Carrot and Orange Loaf
The Great British Bake Off is in full swing and Autumn has brought on a new type of mother-to-be nesting for me - baking. Yes, an obsession with baking goods to freeze for when the baby arrives so that I have baked goods ready to defrost for all our visitors. I have never in my life bothered to make and freeze cakes for anyone other than myself. In fact, they never reach the freezer, they merely move from the oven to my mouth in one swoop!
Here's a yummy little number from the Queen of Baking herself, Mary Berry, that wraps up Autumn flavour in a beautiful loaf. So simple and yet so flavoursome.
To serve you'll need:
1 orange
150g (5 oz) softened butter
150g (5oz) light muscovado sugar
175g (6 oz) carrots
2 large eggs, beaten
200g (7 oz) self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
1/2 level teaspoon ground mixed spice
About 1 tablespoon milk
About 2 tablespoons clear honey (to finish)
Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC/Fan 160ºC/Gas 4. Lightly grease a 900g (2 lb) loaf tin.
Finely grate the orange rind, cut away the pith and slice the orange thinly. Place the rind in a large bowl and add the butter, sugar, carrots, eggs, flour, baking powder and spice and mix well until thoroughly blended. Add the tablespoon of milk if necessary to give a dropping consistency. Spoon into the prepared tin.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for about an hour or until just firm to the touch. Remove the loaf from the oven and arrange the orange slices over the top. Brush with the honey and return the loaf to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and leave to cool.
Tips:
1. The recipe suggests to grease the tin lightly and then add baking parchment. I had none and found greasing was more than enough for the loaf to easily slide out of the tin and without any burning.
2. I do not pre-heat my oven, it is always very hot and I find it often leads to overcooking or worst, burning.
3. Baking time, I baked for 45 minutes and checked the loaf with a skewer. Again my oven is very hot and when I have baked for the full recommended time it has always burnt it a tad.
