Ontario Apple and Carrot Cake Recipe

Ontario Apple and Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dehydrated Ontario blueberries  (If you don’t have these, substitute with one cup raisins, or dried cranberries or dried cherries)

4 large eggs

2/3 cup canola oil

2/3 cup sugar

2 cups Red Tail bread flour from K2 Milling –this is the flour in last week’s bag (or 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp salt

2 cups grated carrot (or 1 cup grated carrot and I cup grated rutabaga–this combo works well!)

1 1/2 cups grated apple (no need to peel it!) (got extra pears?  They work too!)

2/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a 9×13 inch pan with foil*, then grease and flour foiled pan.

Place blueberries (or other dried fruit) in a small bowl and cover with hot tap water.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine oil, eggs and sugar and beat with a wooden spoon or whisk until well combined and slightly thick–about a minute.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, spices and salt.  Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture until it is just combined.  Add drained soaking fruit, along with nuts and grated carrots and apples(and rutabaga if using) and mix until just incorporated.

Spread mixture into baking pan.  Bake 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool on a baking sheet.

*lining the pan with foil is done for two reasons…1.  to make it easy to remove the entire cake from the pan for easy cutting.  When lining the pan, make sure to use a large enough piece of foil so that it hangs over the two shorter ends–this creates handles for easy lifting.  2.  It also helps for easy clean-up!

Tip:  Wrap individual portions in plastic wrap then foil and freeze, then defrost in microwave when read to eat!  This a great way to bring a snack to work–just microwave it at work for a warm morning or afternoon snack!