Chocolate Carrot Cake

Today is cold and tomorrow is Valentine's Day which ended up being the perfect reason to bake a cake with our kids! We added a vegetable and cut down the sugar to try to make our chocolatey treat bit more kid friendly.

Cake:

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups BCF Extra Virgin Canola Oil
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups shredded carrot
2 cups BCF Partially Sifted Flour

Beat together the eggs, sugar, oil, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add in the carrot and mix well. Add the flour and mix just until combined. Pour batter into two buttered and floured cake pans. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. While your cake cools, make the icing.

I caught Levi sharing the left over icing with Simone while I was taking a picture of the cake. It was so sweet (the scene, not the frosting) that I had to take a picture.

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 pkg cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp chili powder
splash of milk

Beat together your butter and cream cheese until the mixture is fluffy. Add in the vanilla, cocoa, cinnamon and chili powder. Add the icing sugar and beat well. If it's too thick add a splash or two of milk.

Dumplings

Did you know… Jeff never had dumplings in his stew until we were married! He was skeptical at first but now he’s been converted. He even had seconds (and thirds) last night claiming that they would just go soggy if he left them.

1 cup Partially Sifted Flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup milk
2 tbsp BCF Extra Virgin Canola Oil

Mix together the dry ingredients. Mix together the milk and oil and add to the dry ingredients mixing just until combined. Spoon the mixture into your stew in 3 or 4 globs. Cover with a lid and cook for 12-15 minutes. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID! Enjoy!

Pear Galette

Galettes are quicker and easier than traditional tarts plus they have a wonderful rustic charm to them (especially when they aren't perfectly formed.) This pear tart is a delicious way to finish off a fall meal.

Crust

3/4 cup Partially Sifted Flour
2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup cold milk

Filling

4 pears, peeled & sliced
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Mix together the flour and sugar. Cut in the butter until the the dough looks like oatmeal. Add just enough milk that you can work with the dough. Be careful not to over mix though: you'll get a tough crust. Roll out the dough into a flat circle on a piece of parchment paper and chill while you prepare the filling.

For the filling, mix together the pears, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and ginger. Mound it onto the middle of the crust and fold up the edges to make a couple inches of crust. 

Bake the galette for about 1 hour at 350F. Serve with a drizzle of honey. 

Cranberry Yogurt Cake

We are huddling indoors today with fragrant coffee, some favourite reads and this tasty treat. This cake is great to make in the fall when fresh cranberries are abundant. You can find the Slate River Dairy Yogurt (along with our flour) at the Thunder Bay Country Market Saturdays 8-1. You can also find a similar mug to ours at the market from the Urban Farmchick at Moss Cottage.

Topping:

1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries

Cake:

1 3/4 cups Partially Sifted Flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
zest of an orange
1/2 cup melted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup Slate River Diary yogurt

Preheat oven to 350F. In a small saucepan, melt the brown sugar and butter together for the topping. Once melted, pour into the bottom of a greased cake pan and add the cranberries on top. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the cake. Create a well in the middle and add the melted butter, eggs and yogurt. Mix the batter just until moist - a few lumps is quite alright. 

Pour the batter on top of the cranberries and smooth the top. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Once done, allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes before flipping. P.S. The "topping" that is stuck to the bottom of the cake pan is pretty tasty on a spoon!

Baguette II

A couple of people have requested the recipe we used at the Baking with Local Flour workshop we did a few weeks ago. Here it is! This baguette recipe is by far my favourite though it takes a lot more time than the other one we have on the website. We used ours today to make BLTs. Thanks Sandy Acres Farm for the bacon!!

It was far too nice out today to have lunch inside.

Levi always deconstructs his sandwiches.

1. Combine the starter (poolish) and allow to sit at room temperature overnight
- PS Flour -  100g
- Water - 100g
- Yeast - 0.5g

2. Mix your dough, knead for 1-2 minutes and allow to rise for 12-24 hours in a coolish place.
- Starter
- PS Flour - 375g
- Water - 225g
- Yeast - 1g
- Salt - 10g

3. Split the dough into 3 equal parts. Form each part into a square, fold it over into thirds like an envelope sealing the edges in. Fold the dough again. Roll it out into the desired length and allow to rise for
1-2 hours seam side down.

4. Preheat oven to 425F. Using a very sharp knife, score 3 diagonal lines into each loaf and bake for 25 minutes.

5. Baguettes only stay fresh for about a day. Freeze , gift or gorge on the extras. You can also use stale baguettes for croutons, French toast, bread crumbs or even slice it very thinly and toast for baguette chips.

Adapted from “Deconstructing the Baguette”
http://www.sallybernstein.com/food/single-articles/baguette.htm