Recipe Types: Dessert
Ingredients
- 1⅔ cups whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached white flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1½ tsps cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 eggs, beaten
- ½ cup canola oil
- 2 cups grated parsnips (or use half parsnips and half carrots)
- 1 cup peeled, grated apple
- ½ cup hickory nuts or black walnuts, chopped
- 1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1½ tsps lemon extract (or vanilla extract)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans (or substitute a greased 9×13 inch cake pan).
- Whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- Combine eggs, oil, parsnips and apples in a second bowl; stir well.
- Stir wet mixture into dry until barely combined. Stir in nuts.
- Divide batter evenly into pans. Bake until cake springs back when lightly touched in the center, 25–35 minutes.
- Cool 10 minutes, then turn cakes out of pans to cool thoroughly.
- To make icing, cream the cream cheese and butter.
- Beat in powdered sugar and lemon extract until smooth.
- Cut the cooled cakes in half horizontally with a long, thin, sharp knife. Frost layers to make a four-layer cake (or make a two-layer cake instead).
- Decorate with finely chopped nuts and/or dried cherries, if desired.
NotesOptional: Finely chopped hickory nuts or black walnuts and dried cherries