The recipe for this cake caught my eye recently on the BBC Good Food site and begged to be baked! Funnily enough I’d been searching for a little birthday cake inspiration and this happened to be the first one that popped up. Not the obvious choice for a birthday cake, but I made it nevertheless for Mr F’s recent Big Day. And being the winner of the Good Food’s 20th Birthday Cake Competition and coming complete with an enormity of rave reviews how could I not?.
I’ve been meaning to try my hand at baking with parsnips all parsnip season, and was particularly delighted to find such a gorgeous recipe. So far my foray into veggie baking has taken me to Beetroot (wonderful in a choccie cake, sadly baked pre-blog but must be made again!), Squash, Pumpkin (Chocolate Pumpkin Cake), Courgettes (Courgette Cake with Homemade Lemon Curd) and of course Carrots. Do please enlighten me if there’re any other veggies worthy of caking up?
Since I barely changed a bean of this recipe (other than slightly lowering the sugar content and upping the amount of apple), I’m not going to re-write the recipe but it can be found on the BBC site by clicking here: Caroline Berwick’s Parsnip & Maple Syrup Cake. Please do try it too, it’s a wonderfully moist and wonderfully flavoured cake that’ll wow the most ardent of parsnip haters. And the mascarpone and maple syrup centre is truly heavenly!.
Being a ‘bookmarked recipe’, I shall be entering it to Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes February Bookmarked Recipes Round-Up.
As parsnips are well and truly in season (though I fear I only have two or three biggies left in the ground) I’m entering the recipe to Ren’s Fabulicious Food Simple and in Season event, this month hosted by Cake, Crumbs and Cooking.
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Chez Foti 
February 12th, 2013 at 2:12 pm
Stunning cake and photos! Thank you for linking up to Simple and in Season x
February 15th, 2013 at 2:04 pm
Thank you Ren, looking forward to hosting myself next month!
February 12th, 2013 at 3:09 pm
I love your photos and such beautiful styling too. Much nicer to use parsnips in a cake than just another boring veggie.
February 15th, 2013 at 2:04 pm
Very true, definitely my best use of parsnips yet!
February 12th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
Delicious looking cake – if I can find my remaining parsnips in the mud bath that is my garden at the moment, I’ll have a go at baking one! Have you done any baking with sweet potatoes – I reckon there must be a cake recipe out there using them?
February 15th, 2013 at 2:06 pm
Ha ha, I’ve just googled sweet potato cakes – and yes there appears to be a whole host of wonderful recipes!! I must try to complete my foray into veggie cake baking. Any other veggie suggestions?
February 12th, 2013 at 4:35 pm
I’m not a big one for veggies in cake (other than carrots!) but your parsnip cake looks so beautiful I am tempted. And I second (or should that be third) that these photos are stunning!
February 15th, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Oh thank you. You should try it, the parsnips add a gentle sweetness and moistness, and well worth it.
February 12th, 2013 at 10:07 pm
Lovely looking cake, I’m fascinated can you taste the parsnip very much? I love parsnips but find if I add them to anything the taste overwhelms.
February 15th, 2013 at 2:08 pm
You can just about taste them, but it’s very subtle and certainly not overwhelming. They had a little sweetness but are particularly useful for the moistness they add to a bake.
February 13th, 2013 at 8:38 am
This looks so good! And your photos are amazing! I first tried baking with parsnip last year, and made some parsnip, carrot and honey muffins and was surprised at just how good they were. Definitely bookmarking this recipe 🙂
February 15th, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Thanks Vanesther!. Oh I so forgot about your gorgeous looking Parsnip & Carrot Cakes – http://bangermashchat.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/parsnip-and-carrot-cakes/
After the success of my first parsnip cake, I’m definitely going to give these ago too – and they have the added bonus of using two veggies!
February 14th, 2013 at 9:49 am
what a gorgeous cake Louisa. I love maple and pecan and can imagine the parsnip works well here as I also love roasting parsnips with maple and pecans too as a veggie side dish
February 15th, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Now I’ve never thought of roasting parsnips with maple and pecans, but I’m so going to do it! Thanks Nazima
February 18th, 2013 at 10:09 pm
This looks wonderful, the parsnip and maple syrup combination sounds very appealing, must try it.
February 20th, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Oh please do try, it was a wonderful cake….and so almost good for you!
February 19th, 2013 at 7:37 pm
I’m so surprised.The cake looks delicious. I’m not a fan of parsnips at all, so rarely buy them and never grow them. But sweet potato is a definite favourite x.
February 20th, 2013 at 12:49 pm
I reckon this cake could tempt even the most ardent of parsnip haters! It’s surprisingly good and the parsnips only give a certain sweet and moistness, not their actual flavour. Sweet potato cake baking for me next….do you have a recipe?
February 21st, 2013 at 10:41 am
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February 24th, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Ooh, thank you for linking up to Simple and in Season! Having made this cake myself a couple of times I completely agree that it’s one of the nicest cakes you can make! Seems surprising given the ingredients but it’s one of those where the whole is more than the sum of the parts.
February 28th, 2013 at 1:42 pm
It is a really good cake isn’t it. I completely see why it was a winning recipe!
February 27th, 2013 at 12:00 am
This looks delicious! I love the combination of maple and pecan and another parsnip based cake I bake always goes down well so will definitely be giving this a go. Beautiful photos 🙂
February 28th, 2013 at 2:06 pm
Thanks Nell. I’m really impressed with the recipe and so not surprised it won the Good Food competition.
March 4th, 2013 at 2:55 pm
this looks delicious, i’m going to try it
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:04 am
Thanks for sharing the link to this in your comment on my aubergine cake – seeing other bloggers make a recipe successfully gives me a lot more confidence that it will turn out well!
April 23rd, 2013 at 9:25 am
Oh this is a fab cake, very moist and full of flavour. And the maple mascarpone centre is dreamy!
April 23rd, 2013 at 9:52 am
I LOVE maple and it always feels like an indulgence because it’s so expensive so I’m pretty sure I would be a big fan!