Parsnip Cake

Move over carrot cake, it's time for parsnip cake!

Parsnips are sweet and flavourful and are perfect grated up in this moist and easy cake.

With the crunch of walnuts, sweetness of honey and familiar spices of nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon, this cake is full of traditional British flavours.

It's easy to make and assemble with no special equipment.

Great for afternoon tea or mid morning treat too!

Enjoy

Jump to:

• Why you will love this recipe
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 Instructions
• ⏲️ Baking Time
• 🥗 Serve with
• 🥙 Substitutions
• 📖 Variations
• 🍣 Storage
• 🍱Prepare in Advance
• FAQs
• 📋 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Parsnips are really one of my favourite vegetables and I can't contemplate my Sunday roast without roast parsnips.

In fact, I always roast them with carrots as their flavour is diminished by boiling and they become sweet and nutty when they are cooked in the oven.

It seems that carrots and parsnips have been used to sweeten dishes since Medieval times, when it was of a carrot pudding dish often mixed with meat too.

Since the 1800's carrot cake has been a popular cake, but it has huge popularity in the US compared to the UK.

This is a very simple cake to make and what I especially like is the moistness. After all, there's nothing worse than a dry cake!

Why you will love this recipe

• Store cupboard ingredients.
• Easy to make.
• Delicious at any time of day, as a dessert or snack.

🥘 Ingredients

• Parsnips - although parsnips are available in shops all yhear round, they are actually sweeter in the winter, when they have been exposed to frost. However, don't let that stop you from making this cake! Choose parsnips of a medium size, so that they are tender, if you are buying them in the summer months.
• Carrots - I've added in a carrot to this recipe.
• Oil - vegetable oil for the cake. I am using oil rather than butter for speed.
• Sugar - soft light brown sugar for the cake and icing sugar for the buttercream.
• Honey - for natural sweetness.
• Eggs - large and free range.
• Flour - self raising flour. To make your own self raising flour add a teaspoon of baking powder to a 100g of flour, (3.5 ounces).
• Baking powder - for extra lift as the batter is heavy with the vegetables.
• Spices - ground ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Make sure that the spices are in date and recently opened, as the flavour diminishes over time.
• Walnuts - shelled walnuts.
• Butter - unsalted butter, at room temperature or soft, for the buttercream.

See recipe card for quantities.

🍽 Equipment

• mixing bowl
• box grater or food processor with large grating disc
• wooden spoon
• 2 round sandwich tins 20cm diameter or 8 inch
• cooling rack

🔪 Instructions

Start by lining the tins with baking parchment. If the tins are old use a pastry brush to grease with butter, oil or baking spray.

💭 Top Tip

• For peace of mind I use loose bottomed tins which are non stick. However, I still line the tins with parchment, using the the removable base as a guide.

Peel the carrot and parsnips and grate on the coarse side of a box grater.

If you prefer, use a food processor, but it only takes a few minutes by hand and there is less washing up.

Chop the walnuts roughly.

Put the oil, honey and brown sugar in a mixing bowl and stir well.

Add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Mix the flour with the baking powder and stir into the mixture with the spices.

Next, add the chopped walnuts and grated vegetables.

Divide the mixture equally between the sandwich tins.

⏲️ Baking Time

Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F / 160 FAN / Gas 4.

Bake the parsnip cake for 20 to 25 minutes.

The cakes are ready when they spring back from touch.

Leave them to cool in the tins for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack until completely cool.

Make the buttercream.

Put the butter in a bowl and use the wooden spoon to beat until really soft.

Add the honey then stir in the icing sugar.

Beat until smooth.

💭 Top Tip

• If it's really difficult to combine the icing sugar add a couple of drops of milk to loosen the mixture.

Place one half of the parsnip cake on a serving plate.

Spread the buttercream and top with the remaining layer.

If you prefer, sprinkle the top with icing sugar. I find that a tea strainer or small sieve works for this.

Grab yourself a nice big slice and enjoy!

🥗 Serve with

Serve with your favourite hot drink or enjoy as an afternoon tea with some of these ideas

• Afternoon Tea Sandwiches
• Flapjacks
• Melting Moments
• Cheese and Bacon Scones
• Cream Tea Scones
• Salted Caramel Mille Feuille
• Nutella Macarons
• Sable Biscuits
• Cardamon and Lime Madeleines
• Cake Salé
• Friands
• Almond Financiers

🥙 Substitutions

• Parsnips - use the whole vegetable quantity and replace with carrots.

📖 Variations

• Spiced - replace the spices with 1.5 teaspoons of ground cardamom.

🍣 Storage

• Refrigerator - unless the weather is very hot the cake should be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
• Freezer - freeze uniced well wrapped for up to three months.

🍱Prepare in Advance

• Make the parsnip cake and store in an airtight container. Ice the cake just before serving for best results.

FAQs

More baking recipes

• Ginger Cake
• Madeira Cake
• Fruit Loaf
• Cardamom Banana Cake
• Lincolnshire Plum Bread
• Orange Marmalade Drizzle Cake
• Chocolate Bundt Cake

📋 Recipe

More baking recipes

Food Safety

• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
• Wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using gas.

Do you have a question or did you make the recipe?

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