Carrots and a carrot cake recipe

At Country Matters Hexton, we normally stock carrots, so I thought I would wow you with some interesting carrot facts:

• Carrots were first grown as medicine.
• They were originally purple, red, white, black or yellow.
• They were imported to Europe in the 14th century, and into UK in the 15th century.
• Orange carrots were bred by the Dutch to match the House of Orange.
• In WW2 carrots were used to make marmalade and fizzy drinks.

This carrot cake recipe is super light and is lower in fat


Carrot Cake
6oz (175 g) dark brown soft sugar, sifted (or a mix of honey and sugar)
2 large eggs
4fl oz (120 ml) sunflower oil
7oz (200 g) self-raising flour (two suggested wholemeal but I didn't have any)
1½ level teasps bicarbonate of soda;
2 0r 3 rounded teasps mixed spice
grated zest 1 orange
7oz (200 g) carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
6oz (175 g) sultanas

Gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C). oblong roasting tin – 4cm deep (swiss roll tin size but deeper),
Whisk sugar, eggs and oil together. Then sift together the flour, bicarb, mixed spice. Stir all together, fold in the orange zest, carrots and sultanas. Pour the mixture into tin, centre of oven - 35-40 minutes.

I also saw this suggested but didn't bother....
Syrup – stir juice ½ small orange;
1 dstsp lemon juice;
1½ oz (40 g) dark brown soft sugar (melt together).
Prick cake and pour on syrup while hot.

Topping:
I squeezed the juice of half the orange and mixed with icing sugar and drizzled it over the top.

also suggest for the topping:
9oz (250 g) Quark (skimmed-milk soft cheese);
¾oz (20 g) caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract; (mix ingredients in a bowl until light and fluffy, chill)
then dust with 1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon

Ice with topping of your choice, cut it into 12 squares and dust with a little more cinnamon.


There is an entire website dedicated to the carrot
www.carrotmuseum.co.uk

and it tells you that:
"There are good reasons to include carrots in human diet, since they are enriched with carotenoids, phenolic compounds, polyacetylenes, and vitamins and by this reason they may help reduce the risk of some diseases. Experimental evidence has reported that these carrot compounds exert antioxidative, anticarcinogenic, and immunoenhancer effects. Anti-diabetic, cholesterol and cardiovascular disease lowering, anti-hypertensive, hepatoprotective, renoprotective, and wound healing benefits of carrot have also been reported. The mechanism by which these carrot compounds decrease the risk of some diseases is complex and sometimes largely unknown. The cardio- and hepatoprotective, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects of carrot seed extracts are also noteworthy.

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