Georgina Hayden
Georgina is a food writer and stylist. She has been a senior stylist for Jamie Oliver for 12 years. Her debut book is Stirring Slowly, and she is currently writing her second book, out in 2019.
Georgie’s Carrot & Courgette Cake
Georgina Hayden
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
Serves: 8
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 1 hour 15 mins
Ingredients:
200g carrots
100g courgettes
175ml oil (any flavourless oil is fine)
80g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 lime
small pinch of fine sea salt
60g ground almonds
325g wholemeal self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Recipe donated by Georgina Hayden. Portrait photography by Laura Edwards | lauraedwards.net. Food photography by Claire Wright | addsomeveg.com.
This courgette & carrot cake is a firm favourite in our family and makes a wonderful breakfast or afternoon treat. If you think courgettes sound funny in a cake, they work brilliantly, just like a carrot cake – sweet, moist. And after a couple of days, when it is less fresh, try grilling it and spreading with a little butter or honey. Delicious.
Method:
Preheat your oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 1l loaf tin with a little butter and greaseproof paper.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the oil and sugar, then add the eggs. Coarsely grate in the courgettes. Finely grate in the lime zest. Add the pinch of salt. Fold in the ground almonds, flour and bicarbonate of soda until just combined. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Check with a skewer and if it is still a little damp return to the oven for 10 more minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
This is a great recipe to get children to help with. They can grate the carrots, courgettes and lime zest, and whisk and stir the mixture together. Be sure to help them get the tray in and out of the oven – otherwise, it’s super child-friendly.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
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