I hate throwing food out. Especially fresh fruit and vegetables. And even things that most people would toss into the bin or the compost heap without a second thought.
Continuing my frugal recipe theme, I am sharing my recipe for this surprisingly moist carrot and apple cake. A good friend gave me her juicer as she was cleaning out before heading off on a two years’ grey nomad adventure. I was excited to receive it, putting it to use making my favourite carrot, apple and ginger juice. Sometimes I vary this by adding fresh parsley and celery to the mix, but mostly I stick o the basics.
It is such a healthy way to start the day. I don’t drink this often as it takes a bit of organisation, but when I do I always wish I did so more. Fresh juices just make me feel like smiling on the inside.
Ah, but then there is the cleaning up. I was about to toss the leftover pulp into the compost, and then wondered if instead I could make a cake. I thought it would be something fairly rustic, but I was surprised at how well it turned out. The juicer grates the fruit and vegetables into a much finer texture than a hand-held grater would, and this created an almost almond-like nutty like effect.
The pieces are not uniform, so I picked over them first and removed any chunky bits. Some still slipped through, and I don’t think it mattered too much. I once made it with some parsley bits in it, and it was okay too (although not as visually uniform as the carrot apple cake.) You could add a cream cheese frosting if you wanted to serve it as a more impressive afternoon tea cake. But I like the less sweet version of this cake eaten plain. And I found it was a perfect addition to work and school lunches. Given the fruit and vegetable content, I could even (almost) pretend that it was healthy.
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups (lightly packed) leftover pulp from making juice from carrots, apple and ginger
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- Preheat the oven to 170C.
- In a bowl, combine the self-raising flour and cinnamon. Add the pulp mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add the sugars, then mix in the beaten eggs. Finally, add the oil and stir to combine. You might need slightly less than 2/3 of a cup, depending on the pulp mixture. Add the oil gradually, and stop when you believe that it has reached a firm yet not too oily texture.
- Spoon the mixture into a greased 23 cm cake tin. The mixture is quite heavy and will not rise as much as light cakes such as sponges. So use a spatula to level the top of the cake as much as possible.
- Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Awesome! I love this; a friend of mine has a mama who bakes for a living and apparently at home she always makes cakes with leftover juicing pulp. Such a good idea. I’m yet to try it myself, might have to veganize your recipe and give it a try! 🙂
I would imagine it would be easy to make a vegan version — how do you substitute eggs? Please let me know how it goes.
Awesome! I love this; a friend of mine has a mama who bakes for a living and apparently at home she always makes cakes with leftover juicing pulp. Such a good idea. I’m yet to try it myself, might have to veganize your recipe and give it a try! 🙂
How creative! I love recipes that dodge food waste, and love that you made this on the fly!