So, it seems that sharing a recipe here has slowed to become an near-annual event! Trust me when I say there are still things happening in the kitchen at FFF headquarters and that recipes are still being shared – but usually in the form of a quick comment on social media posts (so make sure you’re following me there). The process of posting to the blog seems to have fallen by the wayside. So I have undertaken to remedy that and to share more formally and more frequently here in the future. Starting with this happy experiment that turned into a lunchbox winner.

In my eternal quest to increase the nutritional value of anything I put in my kids’ lunchboxes, I though I’d see just how much fruit & vegetable matter I could get away with packing into a cake. I had a lonely little spotty banana, half an uneaten apple courtesy of the pre-schooler, and a few dates that needed using, as well as the standard carrots and zucchini that I try to smuggle into anything mince-related. So I figured I’d throw it all into a batter and see what happened. The result was a delicious, beautifully-textured cake that immediately got the tick of approval from both my kids and a couple of the neighbours, who were over playing at the time it came out of the oven and so scored a taste test.

Not one to dwell too long on recipe names, I have simply gone with “Everything Cake”. I know it has already passed the test with a few other families who have tried it after I shared it in a Facebook group, so hopefully you have success too.

(And excuse the lack of quality photos – these were literally the only snaps I took of the initial experiment, and I am yet to make it again myself. I will endeavour to update the post with better photos when that happens!)

Everything Cake

Ingredients:

85g butter, melted (or coconut oil for dairy free option)

1 small banana (100g)

3 medjool dates

1/3 cup rapadura sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk (dairy or alternative)

50g finely grated apple (about ½ apple)

80g finely grated zucchini, liquid squeezed out (1 small zucchini)

60g finely grated carrot (1 small carrot)

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

1 ½ cups white spelt flour

2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170C fan forced.
2. Blitz together melted butter, banana, dates and sugar.
3. Add eggs and milk and mix to combine.
4. Add grated apple and vegetables – mix through.
5. Add all dry ingredients and mix until combined.
6. Pour into lined 20cm square cake tin and bake for approx. 40 minutes or until cooked through.

I baked this in a square tin to make cutting into lunchbox-sized portions easier. I store the cut cake in an airtight container in the freezer and add straight to lunchboxes for it to thaw in time for recess or lunch.

This would also taste delicious topped with a cream cheese icing with some grated lime or lemon zest on top if you wanted to make it a little more fancy.

Enjoy!