a most unusual carrot cake

having grown up in the middle east with eastern european heritage, i find a lot of english-borne australian cuisine... odd. pardon my prejudice; carrot cakes, for example, i find to be just boring anglo food. stodgy and fatty, and often oversweet.

so i went hunting for a different recipe. and found an unusual, savoury carrot pine-nut cake. the results were made even more unusual by my substitutions. like belinda, i use what's on hand, in the belief that once you know the ground rules of cooking, a recipe is great starting point.

i'd run out of fennel seeds so i used a mixture of equal parts star anise, caraway and cumin. for the lemon juice and zest i used orange juice and kaffir lime leaves. also, because i only stock wholemeal flour and the recipe calls for white, i added an extra 1/2c of milk. this is to go with the mascarpone. no, really mascarpone in cake - crazy idea, but the results are beautifully moist.

(i don't stock mascarpone as a rule, but thankfully i'd bought some cream earlier in the week, which i converted to mascarpone - see recipe at the end.)




the taste? a little like pumpkin pie. but lovely. and unusual. and rich, but not too stodgy. the original suggests dusting the cake in icing sugar before serving, i probably would do that if serving at a special occasion (yep, sweets in my family too).

MAIA'S SAVOURY PINE-NUT CARROT CAKE
(substitutions shown in bold)

ingredients
* 2 1/2 cups plain wholemeal flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup pine nuts (about 6 ounces)
* 1 cup sugar, divided in half
* 1 teaspoon fennel seed equal parts star anise, caraway and cumin seeds
* 1 lemon, juice and zest of juice of 1 orange, 2 kaffir lime leaves finely chopped
* 2 densely packed cups carrots, peeled and shredded (about 6 carrots)
* 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
* 1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
* 5 4 eggs
* 1/2 cup milk
* powdered sugar, for garnish

method

• preheat the oven to 190°C


• in a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; set aside


• place the pine nuts, 1/2 cup sugar, and seeds in a food processor and pulse to mince the nuts. add the lemon zest, lemon juice orange juice and lime leaves, and the carrots (easily shredded with the food processor attachment). pulse to mince the carrots


• add the mascarpone cheese and pulse until the cheese is incorporated. If you can't find mascarpone, cream cheese is a good substitute


• in a large bowl, using a hand mixer wooden spoon, cream together the softened butter and remaining 1/2 cup sugar. add the eggs one at a time, beating well between adding each additional egg. stir in milk


• add the carrot mixture to the butter mixture and stir until combined. add in 1/3 of the reserved dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated. add the rest in thirds the same way


• place the mixture in a lightly greased and floured 8*10 by-2-inch baking dish cake tin. bake for 55 to 60 minutes


• (apparently, you can make into individual serves; fill patty pans 3/4 full, bake for 18-20 minutes


• let the bread/cake cool for 1 hour, then dust with powdered sugar. cut into squares and serve

MASCARPONE

• heat cream to 90°C


• add a couple of tablespoons of acid: lemon juice, vinegar or tartaric acid, stir well. you only need enough to curdle the cream


• allow to cool until set