Carrot, coconut & caraway cake

We've just watched the final of Great British Bake Off so I thought I'd share a cake I made a few weeks ago. I had a few half-dead carrots which needed using up. Yes, I could have made soup or something healthy but cake sounded better!

I didn't want to make a standard carrot cake, though I did use the basic carrot cake recipe from The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake book for the proportion of ingredients. A rummage in the cupboard for flavourings uncovered some desiccated coconut and caraway seeds: the 3 C's of Carrot, Coconut and Caraway had a nice ring to it and so, the cake was born!

It's a thin traybake but that's only because my tin was a little too big. Why is it that I never have the right size despite having a cupboard full of tins?? Not that it made any difference to the flavour. I'd say it tasted even better the day after when the caraway flavour really had time to develop.

The cream cheese frosting caused me a few problems as it just wouldn't set, no matter how long I left it to chill in the fridge. In the end, I abandoned that batch and made another using a different brand. I was also careful not to over mix. The result? A perfect consistency. I'm not sure what the moral of the story is except that I'll use the expensive brand (Philadelphia) next time rather than the supermarket's own!

Hope you enjoy. x

Carrot, coconut & caraway cake

For the sponge:
225g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
pinch salt
50g desiccated coconut
1tbsp caraway seeds
1tsp ginger
grated zest of 1 lemon
200g light brown muscavado sugar
150ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs
juice of 1/2 lemon
300g grated carrot

For the frosting:
50g soft unsalted butter
150g icing sugar
200g full-fat cream cheese
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon

To top:
25g toasted desiccated coconut

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160 Fan/Gas 4.
2. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, coconut, spices and lemon zest in a bowl. Add the sugar and mix well, making sure to break up all the lumps in the sugar - I used a potato masher.
3. Beat the eggs with the sunflower oil and lemon juice until well mixed and then add to the flour bowl with the grated carrot. Mix well.
4. Pour into a prepared baking tin and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. When cooked, leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Make the frosting: beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar and mix well.
6. Add the cream cheese and lemon juice and zest and mix together until just combined. Be careful not to over mix. Chill in the fridge and spread on the cake when the cake is completely cold. Scatter with toasted coconut.

But what about the failed frosting? Well, I didn't like the idea of throwing it away so decided to repurpose it into cheesecake.

Some crumbled ginger biscuits were put in the bottom of a glass ramekin dish. I added 2 beaten eggs to the frosting recipe and the mixture was poured on top of the biscuits to about 3/4 full. For added flavour I put half an apricot in the middle and baked for about 25 minutes.

To be honest, it was a bit overbaked but was still edible and better than being wasted. x

Formby squirrels

Last Saturday, with the weather predicted to be fine and sunny, Chickpea and I headed out to the coast to the National Trust reserve at Formby to see the red squirrels. It's one of the few remaining sites in the UK where red squirrels can be found as they've been pushed out everywhere else by their bigger grey cousins. Three years ago, 80% of the population at Formby was decimated by pox but, thankfully, they're now increasing in numbers: we certainly saw plenty that day.

I did take lots of photos but many of them looked like this...

Fast pesky little critters! I do have a few photos to show you, though I can't promise any of them are in focus!

The best place to spot the squirrels is on the Squirrel Walk: a circular path where feeding stations have been carefully positioned up in the trees. You used to be able to feed them by hand but that's been stopped as it's thought it might have contributed to the spread of the pox.

I can't tell you how amazing the smell was as we walked through the pine woods. The people who make pine-scented air fresheners have clearly never been near a real wood! I hate air fresheners by the way - they make me sneeze and wheeze. Strong perfume does that to me too.

Anyway, this isn't a natural wood but was planted about 100 years ago as part of land reclamation and to stabilise the coastline.

It wasn't long before we spotted a squirrel...

And then a real one!

So cute!

There was quite a colour variation as some were very russety whilst others, like this one, were much darker. They all have the characteristic tufty ears though. Does anyone remember Tufty the Squirrel who was in road safety campaigns back in the '70s? Apparently he's still going strong and has his own web site!

The feeding stations were also very popular with the birds. As soon as the squirrels left, there'd be a rush of feathers as birds swooped in from all around to grab seeds! Here, I've managed to catch a couple of coal tits and a nuthatch.

After wandering through the woods a while, we headed towards the sand dunes which is the other feature Formby is famous for.

There are miles and miles of sandy beach. If you carried on walking in this direction you'd reach the Antony Gormley statues at Crosby and, eventually, Liverpool. (You can see photos from our visit to Crosby a couple of years ago here).

The National Trust site recommends a 'bracing' walk along the beach. It was definitely bracing on our visit and a heck of a lot greyer and chillier than predicted so we only had a brief walk along the sand.

Just long enough to enjoy watching a lady playing with her two dogs. She threw a ball into the surf and the dogs bounded into the water, oblivious to the cold.

Their energy and joy was infectious. This one in particular was very playful and brought his ball to us a few times, particularly when he realised we were happy to throw it for him!

Back on the other side of the dunes and in the shelter of the woods, we followed the Asparagus Trail. I didn't know but there used to be several asparagus fields here as the sandy soil provides perfect growing conditions. The heyday was in the '30s but production started again a few years ago. The Trail takes you around the edge of the fields with information boards about the farmers who used to live there.

The main reason we followed the Trail was to visit the chainsaw sculpture demonstration. Simon Archer is making a life size sculpture of one of the asparagus farmers, Jimmy Lowe, which will be put at the start of the Trail. We've seen a few chainsaw demos at country fairs and find it fascinating that you can achieve such detail with such a large machine. He was a really nice chap too and came over for a chat while he had a brew.

He had some lovely work on display including this carved bench.

Back at the reserve, there was just time for another quick look at the squirrels.

Then the walk back to the station, having a good nosy at the big posh houses along the way: this is millionaires and footballers territory.

We had to change trains in Southport so stopped off for a couple of hours for a snack and quick look around. One of the things we wanted to see was Lilibets of Paris who took part in Britain's Best Bakery earlier this year. It's a tiny shop tucked away down a side street but with the most gorgeous celebration cakes on display in the window. Unfortunately, they had almost completely sold out of cakes to buy!

The only things left were some individual tarte tatins which I did decide to buy as a memento. Can I whisper it though - I prefer my own! I'm sure the rest of their stuff is fine though: there were  a few people having afternoon tea and the cakes and patisserie looked delicious.

A lovely day out and the sun did eventually find its way out of the clouds.

Last but not least, I have to share something which was in the garden yesterday.

A hummingbird hawk-moth! I can't tell you what excitement it caused with lots of running around the living room shouting 'where's the camera!' It made 2 appearances - one in the morning and one in the afternoon (when this shot was taken).

Always something new to see and marvel at. x

Photo Scavenger Hunt : September

September has gone by in a flash and it's already time for the monthly Scavenger Hunt organised by Jill at Made with Love. I found it a little easier this month though I only took the last couple at the weekend. Here's my entry.

S is for : Swings on the local playground.

2pm : Saturday 27 September, waiting for the train to Southport.

Car park : The National Trust car park at Formby.

Hat : Keeping the sun off watching a bowling competition. My Dad is one of the men on the green.

In the mirror : The latest collections in Next.

Garden : Mum and Dad's front garden.

Lock : I don't think anyone has opened this lock in a while.

Nails : Rusty old nails from my parents' garage. They've just had the roof replaced.

Lamp : Pretty stained glass lamps outside a local house.

Street sign : Take care - children and ducks crossing!

Game : This was a window display in a local charity shop. I almost used it for lamp but liked the use of the monopoly board as the table top.

Outside your window : An unidentified moth not just outside my window but also on my window!

Edited to add: Thanks to Louise for identifying it as a Large Yellow Underwing.

If you feel inspired to join in, you can find all the categories for October here. x

Of yoga bags & dreamcatchers

Before I begin, I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you for all your kind words on my last post. It means a lot to know there are so many of you out there who care about us. It's only been a week but it feels much longer than that. Both of us are fine and, for the most part, it's business as usual. The only real change is getting Chickpea into the routine of taking medication. She has to work her way up to the full dose so I've written the schedule on a calendar so she knows what to take when. Which has made me feel useful and has satisfied my practical problem-solving side.

Anyway, as I said, it's pretty much business as usual and that's how I want it to be, at least on my blog so...

I still have a couple of things from the summer to show you but, for a change, I thought I'd show you some crafting. Over the summer I managed to finish off a couple of projects and made progress on a couple of others. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that it was back in March that I started my yoga mat bag! It didn't take long to complete the bag part but I lost momentum when it came to the strap.

In the end I just had to put my mind to it and, luckily, managed to complete it before the class restarted last week. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and it attracted a few admiring glances - that and lots of teasing :) The atmosphere at the class has been lovely since we restarted. Doing the walks over the summer really helped us get to know each other better and brought us much closer. So much so that, if we can get our act together, we plan to hire a cottage for a walking weekend. If we don't, we'll definitely be doing our walks again next summer.

The other thing I completed was a dreamcatcher. Like the bag, it was a pattern in Simply Crochet magazine (issue 5). Although the web is made up of different colours, it's actually the same yarn, Katia Candy, shade 656. As I only needed small amounts, I unwound the ball until I reached a colour change and made several little balls. The ring is an embroidery hoop.

I bought the crystal a while back, not because I liked the crystal but because I wanted the silver chain it was on for another pendant. I knew it would come in handy for something! The ribbons with the silver balls and pink crystals were from Lidl and came in lots of different colours. The other ribbons were cut off clothes - they're the ribbons you find in shoulders to stop clothes falling off hangers in shops. Yes, I save everything!

I've also finished knitting all the pieces of my cardigan (photo of the pattern here). Unfortunately, I've hit a problem in that the needles I need to complete the edging already have something else on them! I need to ask Mum if she has a set so I can finish it. My light summer cardigan will just be ready in time for winter...

Last but not least, I've put a border on my wonky star quilt. The star was a sample made in a workshop, using a technique I will never ever use again as it came out completely wonky and sticks up in the middle. I'd tried to salvage it by adding the applique in the corners but it was then abandoned and stuffed in a drawer. However, I wanted something to practice free motion machine quilting on and this seemed to fit the bill. It was meant to be a quick finish so that I could move onto doing the quilting: I can't tell you how many times I had to unpick and resew that border! I've layered it all up with the wadding now but haven't started the quilting yet - if it turns out ok I'll show you the finished result. If you never see it again, you'll know why!

I have also almost finished the little birds quilt which was my blogiversary giveaway. Louise, it will be with you shortly!

To finish, not something I've made but which I've grown - the bargain 50p chilli plant! I don't think I really believed it would actually produce chillis but here they are. We haven't been brave enough to try any yet - they're habaneros so are going to be very hot!

Hope you had a lovely weekend. We had a day out yesterday which I'll tell you about later. For now though, here's a taster of what we saw. xx