Recipe: Spiced parsnip and pear cake

Hannah Horton, director at Mondays Wholefoods. Photo: Ted Baghurst.

Kingsland has a new bastion of health and vitality - Monday's Wholefoods.

Wander down New North Road through Kingsland, and keep a sharp eye out for the Mondays Wholefoods sign. Tucked away down a driveway, this ivy-clad cafe serves up fresh, seasonal salads and soups that celebrate wholesome, natural ingredients and nutrient dense, cold-pressed juices and smoothies.

Breakfast offerings include homemade granola and Bircher muesli served alongside Supreme coffee with the added option of organic milk, almond or oat milk.
Mondays champions free range, organic and ethically produced food wherever possible, and serves it in compostable materials, or plant-based, recyclable plastics. Everything is composted, and used to grow the cafe's own edible flowers and herbs.

Spiced Parsnip & Pear Cake with creamy mascarpone (gluten free)

This delicately spiced parsnip pear cake has a light and fluffy texture, perfect topped with honey-sweetened mascarpone and fresh pear.

For the batter:
¼ cup grated pear (about ½ a pear)
¼ cup grated parsnip (1 small parsnip)
4 free range eggs
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup flour of your choice, we like spelt or buckwheat
1 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ginger

To decorate
1 cup mascarpone, sweetened with honey and vanilla
Fresh pear slices
Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 160C, and grease a 9-inch cake tin.

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until very smooth. Pour into cake tin and bake in oven for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in to the centre.

Leave to cool in the tin completely before carefully removing.
To decorate, spread mascarpone generously over the cake, arrange sliced pear and dust with cinnamon

Conscious Consumers
Mondays is a Conscious Consumers accredited business. Conscious Consumers' mission is to create a global marketplace for sustainable products and services, and develop innovative tools and services to connect participants. With a massive national following, businesses accredited to Conscious Consumers are attracting consumers who care about the impact of their spending. Visit consciousconsumers.org.nz for more information, or download the app.