Something(s) For Mother's Day

For those marking Mother’s Day, these two simple recipes hopefully offer something for everyone. An easy peasy breakfast granola that can be made with little helpful hands without too much mayhem the day before and then taken to her for much-deserved breakfast in bed. Or, if like so many, baking is a nostalgic pastime that you might have once loved and shared with mums and grannies, then what better than a moreish cake to rustle up on Mothering Sunday itself. Tuck in and enjoy it, be it in celebration or remembrance.

Makes one large jar

Ingredients

45g coconut or sunflower oil
200g honey or agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
350g rolled oats
100g hazelnuts
100g pumpkin seeds
50g sesame seeds
200g dried apricots
2 balls of stem ginger

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (the fan variety).
2. In a small pan, heat the oil, honey and vanilla until melted and well mixed. Set aside for later.
3. Next, roughly halve the hazelnuts (I use a pestle and mortar but a knife and chopping board would also work) and add to a bowl along with the oats and seeds, and stir well.
4. Pour in the melted honey and stir to combine.
5. Tip the contents of your bowl onto a large baking tray lined with greaseproof paper before baking for ten minutes.
6. Take out your granola, give everything a bit of a mix, and return to the oven for a further ten. Repeat until it’s uniformly golden brown, which should taken roughly 30 minutes depending on the size of your tray and how well you’ve spread out the granola.
7. Whilst it’s baking, roughly dice the apricots and finely chop the ginger.
8. When baked, stir through the apricot and ginger until evenly distributed then set aside to cool completely.
9. Serve with yoghurt, honey and some fresh fruit if you like, and store the rest in an airtight container for up to one month.

Ingredients

2 eggs
150g caster sugar
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
300g parsnips, peeled
125g sunflower oil
50g water
75g walnuts, plus extra for decorating
Zest of half a lemon, plus extra for decorating

100g double cream
20g caster
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g crème fraîche

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan once again), then grease and line a loose-bottomed 20cm cake tin.
2. In a freestanding mixer or using an electric whisk, beat together the eggs and sugar for two minutes or until thickened and pale. Sieve in the flour, baking powder, bicarb and spices. Then mix again until just combined.
3. Coarsely grate the parsnips and gently fold into the mix alongside the oil and water with a spatula.
4. Roughly chop the walnuts and then add those plus the lemon zest to your cake batter. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes or until a knife comes out of the centre clean.
5. As the cake cools, whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla until just thickened. Add the créme fraîche and whip some more until spreadable. Be careful not to over whip at this stage.
6. Spoon on to the cool cake and finish with some more chopped walnuts, cinnamon, lemon zest and a little icing sugar if you fancy.

Your cake will keep uniced for 3-4 days in an airtight container. Or ice it first and it'll store for 2-3 days in the fridge.