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Pea and Vanilla Cake with Lemon Icing

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An original recipe from Kate Hackworthy’s debut cookbook Veggie Desserts + Cake.

Pea and Vanilla Cake with Lemon Icing by Kate Hackworthy

Vegetable desserts can be so much more than just carrot cake, as food-writer Kate Hackworthy of award-winning Veggie Desserts shows us with her debut cookbook Veggie Desserts + Cakes. Published by Pavilion Books on the 3rd of August 2017 this stunning manuscript pushes far beyond the boundaries of traditional carrot cake. She puts vegetables into scrumptious cakes, muffins, biscuits, tarts and pastries, brownies and even ice cream Kate shows us that vegetables can be the stars of the show, not just a hidden ingredient.

There are over 60 original recipes in this book from the pea and vanilla cake with lemon icing shown here, to kale cake, sweet potato and salted hazelnut cookies, carrot gingerbread, mascarpone tart with beetroot pastry, carrot meringue pie to chocolate cauliflower ice lollies with pistachio dust (I’ made these when she first blogged them, they’re amazing!).

Vegetables bring moisture and a natural sweetness to baking, meaning you can often use less refined sugar and fat, resulting in a great-tasting treat.

Pea and Vanilla Cake with Lemon Icing by Kate Hackworthy

I’ve been following Kate’s blog Veggie Desserts now for years, and I had the pleasure of meeting her in person a few years ago at the Food Blogger Connect conference in London. It’s been wonderful to follow her success over the years, from winning the best food blog in the UK National Blog Awards to winning the Soil Associations prestigious BOOM award for best blog this year.

Kate Hackworthy Veggie Desserts Cookbook Pavilion

Kate’s book is packed full of 60 unique and original recipes incorporating a wide variety of vegetables from fractal cauliflower to beetroot, kale to pumpkin, sweet potato to carrots, cucumber to parsnips.

As soon as my copy of her book arrived I was taken with the vibrant colour and intriguing flavour combination of this pea and vanilla cake with lemon icing. Peas in a cake? How could this even work?!

So I put it to the test one recent rainy day (excuse the dark rainy day photos!) with rather fantastic results!

Pea and Vanilla Cake with Lemon Icing by Kate Hackworthy

This vibrant green three-layered cake is deliciously sweet and doesn’t taste like peas at all. It’s dense like a carrot cake is from all the fibre in the peas, but it totally works. I might have had a guilt-free slice of this for breakfast – after all, it’s got vegetables in it so it’s good for me right? In all honesty, I think the flavour of this cake improved upon the second day.

I’m really looking forward to experimenting more with the recipes in this book and I want to pass on my heartfelt congratulations to Kate on the publication of her first cookbook. This is such a wonderful achievement and I am so incredibly proud of her for all her hard work and dedication to get to this point. Well done!

Don’t forget to visit/like/follow Kate on all her social media channels – you will be inspired, I promise you! You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

‘An inspirational, beautiful book’ – BBC Good Food magazine

Book: veggie desserts + cake
Author: Kate Hackworthy
Publisher: Pavilion Books
ISBN: 978-1-91121-674-2
Publication Date: 3 August 2017
Cover: hardback
RRP: £14.99 (UK) $16.92 (CAN)

Pea and Vanilla Cake with Lemon Icing by Kate Hackworthy

Pea and Vanilla Cake with Lemon Icing

An original cake from Kate Hackworthy's debut cookbook: Veggie Desserts + Cake. Recipe reproduced with permission.
5 from 1 vote
Print Rate
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

for the cake

for the lemon buttercream

to finish

  • pea shoots (optional)
  • lemon zest (optional)

Instructions

to make the cake

  • Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/325°F/gas 3. Grease and line three 15 cm/6 in round cake pans.
  • Boil the peas for a few minutes, drain, refresh under cold water and drain again. Puree with a hand blender until smooth. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs well, one at a time, then beat in the cooled pea puree, vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, and stir gently to combine.
  • Divide the batter among the prepared pans, then bake for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

to make the lemon buttercream

  • In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the icing sugar and beat until combined. Beat in the lemon zest and a little of the juice. If necessary, add more icing sugar or a teaspoon of milk to reach the consistency of thick frosting. Store in the fridge until ready to use.
  • Sandwich together the cake layers with a little of the buttercream. Cover the cake in the remaining buttercream and decorate with pea shoots and lemon zest.
Tried this recipe?Mention @TangoRaindrop or tag #elizabethskitchendiary!

Pea and Vanilla Cake with Lemon Icing byOTHER RECIPES FROM THIS BOOK MADE BY BLOGGERS CELEBRATING KATE’S VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH

Chocolate Cauliflower Ice Lollies
Cavolo Nero and Orange Cupcakes
Beetroot and Vanilla Sorbet
Carrot Gingerbread
Avocado Lime Tarts
Carrot Gingerbread 
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Avocado Icing
Kale Apple Cake 
Courgette Poppyseed Loaf
Strawberry and Spinach Swiss Roll
Courgette Poppyseed Loaf

…. and here’s what Kate thought out our virtual book launch!

Review by Kavey Eats

SHOP THIS POST

Veggie Desserts + Cakes 

 

Veggie desserts and cake by Kate Hackworthy

GIVEAWAY

Pavilion Books have very kindly offered the chance for one of my UK readers to win a copy of veggie desserts + cakes! Simply fill out the Rafflecopter entry form below!

TERMS & CONDITIONS

This giveaway is open to UK entries only. Entrants must be age 18 or over. The winner will need to respond within 30 days of being contacted; failure to do this may result in another winner being selected.

The prize is offered and provided by Pavilion Books. The prize is to win a copy of Veggie Desserts + Cakes by Kate Hackworthy. There is no cash alternative and the prize is not transferable.

There is no entry fee and no purchase is necessary to enter this giveaway.

The promoter (Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary) reserves the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice.

Entry into our giveaways will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.

If you need some help using Rafflecopter, here’s a quick clip to show you how. Rafflecopter will pick the winner at random from all the entries received. I will be verifying entries. Any automated entries or those who have claimed they have made the mandatory blog post comment and really haven’t will be disqualified. It’s mandatory! Please make sure your comment is eight words or longer or Google views it as spam and this negatively affects my spam score. All entries with comments fewer than the mandatory 8 words will be disqualified and deleted.

Closing date is midnight (that’s 00:00 hours, 12 am on Sunday night/Monday morning) on Monday 28 August 2017 (GMT). The winner will be announced afterwards.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary was sent a review copy of Veggie Desserts + Cakes from Pavilion Books. This is not a paid post and all thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.

Comments

  3. For health reasons I have been advised to go on a vegetarian diet so I am just beginning to explore new recipes incorporating veg into my baking. This looks like a good recipe to start with 🙂

    Reply

  4. It looks yummy & delicious. I would love to win this competition so i can make this lovely dish & many more scrumptious receipes please!

    Reply

  6. I would never have thought of combining these ingredients, particularly to create a sweet treat. But, it does look absolutely amazing! The colour is really striking too! Congratulations on your amazing recipe book too!

    Reply

  7. Really not sure about the colour or the pea factor lol. But willing to have a go and see if it tastes any different. Wonder if people will realise what gives it the green colour without telling them first.

    Reply

  10. I’d love to try it – love the colour too. My son adores peas so this would be great to bake for him and see what he thinks of it x

    Reply

  13. mm to be honest im not too sure, not a massive pea fan but it does sound interesting at the same time, id probably have a go at making it!

    Reply

  15. Interesting combination. I love lemon icing and peas with vanilla sounds delicious . Really colourful cake. Looks amazing.

    Reply

  16. I think personally this recipe sounds interesting as i would have never though of cooking something like this before.

    Reply

  18. i have seen so many recipes for ‘green cakes’ now, made from various things, this one does sound nice – i really want to make one for the kiddies, see what they think

    Reply

  20. Kate is absolutely amazing…and I’d never in a million years thought up most of her book recipes myself – what a great idea this pea and vanilla cake is? x

    Reply

  25. I love the sound of this, it’s right up my street. I’m always trying to get more veg and good stuff in our diet but I love baking so this is perfect!

    Reply

  26. I don’t much like cake but I love baking and I’m vegetarian with a gardener partner who always brings home more veg than I know what to do with so baking acake with the tub full of peas would be great! My 3yo also loves peas and I’m sure she’d love to help make a cake with them lol

    Reply

  27. It is not something that I would ever think to do – but it looks amazing, would definitely like to try!

    Reply

  30. Never thought of using peas in a cake, but it makes a great colour and Im assuming it tastes delicious and sweet

    Reply

  35. I love how innovative it is, I haven’t seen anything else like it, I’d really like to have a go at making it.

    Reply

  40. I’m imagining that the peas would give this a lovely fresh flavour. The colour is certainly amazing. I’ve bookmarked this one for later!

    Reply

  41. I have been vegetarian since I was 7. I’m 22 now and since being at University I’ve fallen out of touch with baking, this would be a great way to start up and experiment!

    Reply

  45. I have used carrots, courgettes, beetroot and parsnips in cakes but never peas, so I am keen to give this recipe a go.

    Reply

  46. Honestly? I’m not sure! I’m really not a huge fan of peas, but appreciate how well things like courgettes and beetroot work in cakes, so I’d be willing to give it a try!

    Reply

  49. I have used vegetables in cakes before but never peas so this would be really interesting to try – certainly gives a very green colour!

    Reply

  52. I absolutely love peas but I would have never thought to make a ckae with them. However it does look delicious and I think I will give it a go myself x

    Reply

  56. Wow this recipe looks amazing and right up my street! Going to see if I have time this week to make it. I have heard really good things about this book

    Laura x

    Reply

  59. Fantastic results indeed. I love the vibrant pea green of this cake. I bet it tastes super scrummy too. Baking such a colourful summery cake seems like a fine thing to do on a wet summer’s day. Mind you, Shetland has had more sunshine than Cornwall this year!

    Reply

  64. Oh wow this cake looks and sounds divine! Certainly something I want to give a go! Thanks for sharing and I’ve heard great things about this book

    Laura x

    Reply

  66. What a stunning recreation of Kate’s recipe! Totally gorgeous! (and I can’t imagine them being any better even if you had better light 😉 I adore Kate’s book so much and have tried two recipes – Avocado Chocolate Cupcakes with Cherry Icing *and* Sweet Potato and Salted Hazelnut Cookies. In fact, I’ve made three different sorts of tweaky batches of the latter! I just know that anyone who buys this book will get a lot of use – and joy – from it.

    Reply

  67. I remember seeing this book on your IG and thinking ‘I need to buy it!’ This cake looks so gorgeous! I bet if I do it, it would not look as nice as yours…. Come to my place and let’s bake it together

    Reply

  70. It looks incredible and I am always wowed by how well vegetables work in something sweet. I never thought I would taste a beetroot and chocolate cake, but I have and love it. The greenness of this cake is really quite something!

    Reply

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