This cake is not very good for you.

This cake is definitely not vegan (but it is veggie friendly).

This cake is divine.  A cross between a cake and a pudding.  A gorgeous bananary fluffy mountain of awesome calories.

Nom.

I bake when I have things on my mind.  When I’m working stuff out.  When all around me seems to be losing their heads I put things in a bowl and become a cake.  The culinary equivalent of If.

I made this cake on Friday night.  I had something on my mind which had passed by the time I enjoyed the cake on Saturday afternoon.

Such is the way of cakes.

Ingredients
For the Cake
90g/3oz softened unsalted butter
45g/1.5oz runny honey
115g/4oz caster sugar
1 egg
2 bananas (mashed)
90g/30z vanilla flavoured yoghurt (or plain yoghurt + a teaspoon of vanilla extract)
0.5 teaspoon baking powder
185g/6.5oz self raising flour (sifted)
For the Glaze
60g/2oz unsalted butter
1 tablespoon runny honey
60g/2oz icing sugar
splash of milk

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/Gas Mark 4.

Lightly grease a cake tin and place baking parchment in the base.

Cream together the butter, honey + sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and banana and mix together.

In a small bowl combine the yoghurt (or yoghurt + vanilla extract) with the baking powder and stir well. Slowly fold the sifted flour and yoghurt mixture alternately into the bowl of banana mixture.

Once mixed togther well put the cake mix in the greased + lined tin and bake for 60 minutes. I baked mine for 55 minutes and it sunk a tiny bit so suggest doing the skewer test after 60 minutes instead. Because this is quite a moist cake it needs baking for a little bit longer than you would initially think.

While your cake is baking you can make the honey glaze.

Cream together the butter + honey until pale and fluffy then slowly beat in the sugar and about half a tablespoon of milk. Put the icing in the fridge until your cake is baked and cold and then the icing goes on top before the cake goes in your belly.

Happy Groundhog Day.   American/Canadian readers, please let me know what’s happening with that pesky groundhog as I would really like winter to end soon please.

Speaking of furry creatures, I’m like Paddington Bear when it comes to marmalade and would quite happily keep marmalade sandwiches under my hat if it were socially accpetable to do so.

So there was only one thing on my mind when these arrived from the veg box people.

Like other bloggers I wanted to make MARMALADE!!

This is by far and away the easiest marmalade recipe in the world (Himself managed to make it practically unassisted this year for heaven’s sake) and is adapted from one I found in a Waitrose (UK supermarket) freebie magazine about three years ago.

Ingredients
1kg Seville oranges (Sevilles make the best marmalade by far. It is all they are good for. Do not try and eat one unless you want your eyes to pop out from the bitterness).
1 lemon
2kg sugar

And that’s it!

Pour two litres of cold water into a very large pan.

Squeeze the oranges and lemon and add the juice to the pan.

Remove the pith from the orange peels with a spoon and then chop the peel into strips.  The chunkier the strips the chunkier cut the marmalade.  We went for very chunky cut!

Add the peel to the pan and bring the whole lot to the boil then simmer until the liquid has reduced by half and the peel is soft (this will take about 1.5 hours).

Add the sugar about 500g at a time slowly stirring in, making sure it all dissloves.  Then increase the heat and boil rapidly for about 15 minutes

You need to reach “setting point”.  So after 15 minutes, get a cold saucer and put a little marmalade on it.  Allow it to cool and then push the edges of the marmalde spot – if it wrinkles, it’s ready to go.  If not boil it for another 5 minutes or so and test it again.

Once you’ve reached setting point leave the marmalade to cool in the pan before transferring into sterilised jars (see how to sterilise jars here).

You will make more marmalade than you ever thought possible and consquentially have to use every available container in the house!

Joke.

Q: What did the chick say when it saw an orange in the nest?
A: Look at the orange mama laid.

Yeah, I know, more carrots.

The fruit’n'veg box was full of them (and oranges but we’ll save them for next week).

So let’s make carrot cake.

Now I was going to veganise Sas’s recipe – but you know what?  It’s perfect just as it is.  If you bake with eggs, go try it now!

So onto those carrot muffins.

Ingredients
(makes about 9)
275ml coconut milk
Juice + zest of one orange
250g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
0.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
5 tablespoons of golden syrup
2 carrots, grated
Large handful of sultanas

Mix flour, baking powder, bicarb + salt together in a bowl.

Add the cinnamon + nutmeg, the orange zest + sultanas + grated carrot, and then fold in the golden syrup.

Mix the coconut milk with the orange juice and pour over the mixed ingredients – fold (don’t stir) with a wooden spoon until everything is combined.

Divide into muffin cases and bake at 180*C/Gas Mark 4 for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!