Add veges for a sweet treat (+recipes)

Gluten free courgette loaf

We are told we should eat five or more servings of vegetables a day, but I guess that doesn't mean pumpkin pie, beetroot and chocolate cake or kumara cookies.

Veges that are naturally sweet, such as courgettes, carrots, beetroot, pumpkin and kumara, add flavour and texture to baking, and help keep it fresh and moist. Carrot cake is probably our best-known vegetable cake - a winner with young and old. Courgettes add moisture and lightness to muffins and loaves, and beetroot and chocolate are great partners.

Rhubarb, botanically classified as a vegetable, is commonly used as a fruit. In 1947 the United States Customs Court ruled that rhubarb was a fruit. However, in New Zealand it is still listed as a vegetable in vegetables.co.nz's users' guide.

We often enjoy rhubarb in dessert crumbles or stewed for breakfast and it is also makes a great coulis to partner with pork and fish. Remove rhubarb leaves as they contain poisonous oxalic acid.

Pumpkin and kumara combine well with mixed spices. North Americans, who hardly ever serve pumpkin as a vegetable, have made their Thanksgiving sweet ending, the pumpkin pie, a universal favourite.

About 300g of peeled and seeded raw pumpkin provides one cup of mashed cooked pumpkin.

Versatile kumara add an extra dimension to baking. Despite their sweet taste, kumara are low in kilojoules with about 421kJ (101 calories) in a 100g serving.

But cooked, mashed and combined with cream, vanilla and mixed spices in icecream, or with stewed apple in a cake, their calorie rate increases.

Peeled and grated raw parsnip makes a great substitute for grated carrot in cakes and muffins.

Or cook and mash and use as a substitute for pumpkin or kumara in bakes.

RECIPES

GLUTEN-FREE COURGETTE LOAF

2 medium courgettes
4 large eggs, separated
125g butter, melted
1 cup ground almonds
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp each: brown sugar, honey
1 & 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1 tsp each: baking powder, cream of tartar

Set oven to 175C. Grease a 23cm x 13cm loaf pan. Cut a piece of baking paper so it goes down one side of the pan, across the base and up the other side - but not the ends.
Coarsely grate courgettes. You should have about 2 cups. Squeeze dry.

Put egg yolks in a large bowl. Beat until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add courgettes, butter, ground almonds, walnuts, brown sugar, honey, mixed spice and baking powder. Mix well.

In a clean bowl, using a clean beater, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Fold into courgette mixture a little at a time. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then lift out using the baking paper and cool on a rack. Great served sliced and buttered.

PUMPKIN & CHUTNEY MUFFINS

About 300g of peeled and seeded raw pumpkin provides 1 cup of mashed cooked pumpkin.
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tsp each: ground cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil
1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin (cold)
Topping:
3 tbsp apricot jam or sweet chutney

Set oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 10-12 hole muffin pan or line with paper liners.
Sift flour, spices and baking soda into a bowl. Stir in sugar.

Combine the egg, milk, oil and pumpkin, until smooth. Add to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Spoon into prepared muffin holes. Top with a dab of chutney.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Makes 10-12.

RHUBARB UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Topping:
1 tbsp butter, melted
3 tbsp maple syrup
300g rhubarb, trimmed
Cake:
1 & 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp each: baking soda, ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
125g butter, chopped
Grated rind and juice 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Set oven to 180C. Lightly grease sides and base of a 20-23cm cake pan. Line base with baking paper.

To prepare topping, brush melted butter over base of lined pan and drizzle with maple syrup. Cut rhubarb into suitable shapes and place evenly over top.

To prepare cake mixture, place all ingredients in food processor in the order listed and blend until mixture is well combined. Spread over rhubarb. Place cake pan on an oven tray to catch any drips. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, until cooked.

Stand for 5 minutes then turn upside-down on to a serving plate.

Great served warm with whipped cream or yoghurt. Serves 8-10.

GLUTEN-FREE KUMARA FRUIT CAKE

One cup mashed kumara is about 300g raw.
1 cup mashed, cooked golden kumara
1/3 cup orange juice
200g butter
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 & 1/4 cups gluten-free baking mix flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
400g sultanas or mixed dried fruit
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp almond essence

Set oven to 180C. Grease and line a deep 20-23cm cake pan.
Mash kumara and orange juice together.

Cream butter and sugar, until light. Gradually beat in eggs. Add kumara mixture. Sift in baking mix and cinnamon then add dried fruit and essences. Mix well. Spoon into tin and smooth top with the back of a spoon.

Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.
Cool in pan.

Keep for a day before cutting. Can be iced with butter icing.