Parsnip Cake with an Orange Cashew Frosting

Carro…. Parsnip Cake?!?

Move over, carrot, there’s a NEW cake in town. Now, I am no stranger to using vegetables when I bake. Carrot, beetroot, sweet potato, pumpkin… I make a mean chocolate courgette cake.

But parsnips may seem a little unusual in a cake.  Although if you think about it, parsnips aren’t so different to carrots. Both are subtly sweet and slightly starchy, although parnips are a little more so–especially when roasted.

Ask me what my favourite cake is, and 10 times out of 10 I’d tell you carrot cake in a heartbeat. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you will know that I tend to start off each post declaring that my mother/grandfather made the BEST XXX ever, and how much I miss eating it. So you shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you that my mother made the BEST carrot cake. Like, ever. They were always a minimum of three layers, all of them (dare I say it) moist and carrot-flecked. Hers were often studded with plump raisins and roasted walnut chunks, stacked high and enrobed in a thick coat of tangy cream cheese frosting.

These carrot cakes are an enduring favourite in the Gill household, and although I no longer eat eggs or cream cheese, I can’t help but feel a little twinge of envy when I see my sister tuck into her (often very generous) slice of carrot cake.

So I set out to make the best damn vegan carrot cake ever. And while a cashew-based frosting was never ever going to taste like cream cheese, it is equally delicious slathered on top of this perfectly spiced cake. But of course, I needed to take it a step further. I couldn’t just make a carrot cake. I remember reading one of my favourite blogs, Top with Cinnamon, and Izy had made one of the most gorgeous bundt cakes that contained–gasp!–grated parsnip. And while this shocked me a little at first, I have been toying with the idea of baking with parsnip ever since.

As someone who loves a good deal (I blame my Indian genes), I tend to bulk buy veg whenever they go on sale. 29p for 2 kilos of parsnips? YOU ARE JOKING.

While this does mean I get through an insane amount of veg, I am still a tiny gal. 6 kilos of parsnips (yes, I bought 3 bags) was just a little too much for me. Only a little. I usually end up with an assortment of old, slightly wrinkly veg at the bottom of my produce drawer. Usually, this collection includes several parsnips, each a little wonkier than the last. That is the beauty of this cake. You can use the wonkiest, wrinkliest parsnips and you will still end up with a gorgeous cake.

Parsnip cake, definitely parsnip

So how does using parsnip, as opposed to the traditional grated carrot, change the flavour of this cake? Since the spices used in both cakes are so very similar, the cakes themselves taste so very similar. But I am quite taken with my parsnip cake, and I love the little bit of earthiness and nuttiness the parsnips lend to this version of a spice cake.

If you, like me, pile your plate high with roasted parsnips every Christmas, you will be well acquainted with the flavour profile of our favourite root vegetable. I like to tell people who haven’t had parsnip before (parsnips are pretty pricey in Singapore) that it’s a little anise-like. I love black liquorice and I sometimes forget that not everyone does, so don’t let that scare you. It’s got a beautiful, mellow anise undertone, so eating a slice of this cake is nothing like sucking on a chunk of what is possibly the most polarising candy. But the very mild anise flavour of a parsnip does impart another dimension of spice, making it my new favourite cake. Like, ever.

Criss Cross Applesauce

I have used a half cup of applesauce in this cake and I feel the need to justify this to you because of my experience with baking with applesauce in the past. Applesauce is often touted as the answer to fat-free baking, and when I went through my (thankfully brief) period of ‘super healthy’ baking, I used applesauce. A lot.

The bakes I got with applesauce always left something to be desired. They were often gummy, dense and just a little too rubbery. So whenever I see a recipe involving applesauce, the words ‘PROCEED WITH CAUTION’ flash in my brain, in big red letters. But the trick to baking with applesauce is to never bake with it without some other kind of fat in the recipe. If you read a recipe list including applesauce, and there is no oil, or vegan butter, or some kind of nut butter/coconut milk involved, I’d reconsider making that recipe. Applesauce gives a bake a beautiful moist-ness (I have used that word twice now, so I apologise), and even adds a bit of natural sweetness to it. But it should never, ever be used to substitute fat 100%.

You can make your own applesauce, which is simple, but you can also just buy some from the store. If you have chosen to go with the latter option, I’d suggest either buying those apple baby food jars (yikes) or the jarred Bramley applesauce you can find in the condiments aisle. If your applesauce is chunky, puree it together with the wet ingredients as you don’t want large chunks of apple in this cake!

Team Raisin (the roof)

Raisins are undoubtedly the oldest companion of a carrot in a bake, so I chose not to sway too far from this perfect partnership. If you, however, are one of those people who simply cannot stand raisins, you can of course leave them out. Or, even better, swap the raisins for chopped up crystallised stem ginger, pecan nut chunks, or dried pineapple.

I highly recommend crystallised ginger, since it goes very well with the ground ginger folded into the cake batter. The only reason I haven’t used it myself is because no packet of crystallised ginger lasts long in my pantry. I like to suck on them, all achingly sugary on the outside but delightfully spicy in the middle. Mmmm, ginger.

p.s. If this is the first time you’re reading one of my recipes, the ingredients are separated out according to when you will use them. So don’t feel confused if you see butter listed twice! Just work your way down the list and you will know which quantity to use first.

Parsnip Cake with an Orange Cashew Frosting

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

 

This vegan parsnip cake is a fun spin on the more traditional carrot cake, and it's topped with a velvety cashew and orange frosting. Perfect for using up old parsnips!

Author: Sasha Gill

Recipe type: Vegan

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

• 1½ cup grated parsnips, lightly packed
• 2 tbsp maple syrup or date syrup
• ½ cup smooth applesauce
• ¼ cup aquafaba (or plant milk)
• 7 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• 1½ cup all purpose flour, sifted
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ cup raisins
• 1 cup cashews, soaked for 6 hours*
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• Juice of ½ an orange
• ¼ cup plant milk
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• Pistachios and orange zest, for decorating

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C, and grease and line a loaf pan with baking parchment.
2. In a bowl mix together all wet ingredients form the parsnips through to the orange zest. In another bowl, mix together all dry ingredients from the flour through to the ground ginger.
3. Tip the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold everything together, taking care not to overmix
4. Gently fold in the raisins.
5. Pour the batter into a baking tin. Bake for 50-60 mins until golden and firm, and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. To make the frosting, drain the cashews and blend them with the syrup, zest, orange juice, milk, and cinnamon until very smooth.
7. When the cake is baked remove from the tin and cool completely before topping with the prepared frosting, chopped nuts and more orange zest.

Notes

* or boiled for 15 minutes

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