Watermelon Slush

I have two favourite things to eat when I'm sitting beside a pool in a hot climate (which is rare, sadly) and those are: watermelon and slush. A few weeks ago we got a heatwave in Glasgow - which was excellent when I wasn't in work. All I cold think about was watermelon and slush and so I decided to combine them to make a delicious summer drink. The best part is that you're eating fruit and also having a sweet treat (good news all round).

I'd actually forgotten I'd made it until I came across a photo on my phone, and so I thought I'd post it here. In this version I didn't add mint, but I have before and it was pretty nice, so if that's what you want to do I'd add 1-2 leaves per serving. Using my small smoothie blender I make this recipe one serving at a time, but if you have a bigger, more powerful blender then you'll probably be able to make a few at once.

(Serves 2)

INGREDIENTS
1 small watermelon, cut into chunks
1-2 cups of ice
juice of 1 lime

DIRECTIONS
1. Add watermelon and a splash of water to blender and blend until it has formed a thick juice.
2. Add the lime juice - I add 1 lime but this really is to taste.
3. Gradually put the ice into the blender until you have a thick and slushy consistency - again this is to taste as I like mine quite slushy but this is really up to you.

Serve in a glass with a straw, and pretend that you're on holiday and you don't have to do the dishes.

Hope you enjoy!
Zoe

Carrot and Walnut Cake

Last year I set myself the task of finding the ultimate carrot cake - and I am very pleased to report that I have now found it. The cake that inspired me to find a new recipe was from the Cottonrake Bakery in Glasgow which - in my opinion - has the best carrot cake ever. It's dark brown in colour - which gives it almost a caramel quality to it, contains walnuts (always a plus), its never too dry, and the cream cheese icing isn't overly sweet and has a slight tang to it. Eating it transformed carrot cake for me and turned it into one of my favourite types of cake. In fact, I received an entire one for my 21st birthday earlier in the year and I'm (almost) embarrassed at the amount of it I ate by myself... It really is fantastic and if you're ever in Glasgow then I insist that you go and try for yourself. This recipe however is the closest thing that I've found to Cottonrake's.

the wonderful cake at Cottonrake

I have to say, I felt very proud when I served this cake to my family - it was exactly what I wanted it to be and it has now become my staple carrot cake. It also got rave reviews from my family - in particular my mum who said it was best carrot cake she'd ever had (I know she's my mum and so she may be a tad biased BUT she's also very honest so theres that!). So I hope this works for you, because I am over the moon that I came across this recipe.

My version of the recipe is adapted from The Brick Kitchen's Favourite Carrot Cake - I am very grateful that you posted this.

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

200g plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
170g caster sugar
170g dark brown sugar
275ml vegetable oil
150g grated carrot
100g walnuts, roughly chopped
70g crushed pineapple (weight after remaining liquid removed)

For the icing:

125g cream cheese
125g mascarpone
35g icing sugar
zest of 1 orange

DIRECTIONS

Cake
1. Preheat oven to 170°C/150°C fan and line a cake tin.
2.Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and mix for one minute on a slow speed, scrape the sides and then mix for a further 3 minutes. (I used a standing mixer for this, so you may want to mix for longer if you're using a handheld mixer. Just make sure that it's all well incorporated.)
4. Pour into the lined tin and bake for 1 hour and a half.

Finish
5. Allow the cake to cool - this will take a while as it is a big cake, I would allow 2 hours or so. When I did it I was very impatient and put it in the fridge, then iced it when it was still slightly warm BUT it tasted good anyway.
6. For the icing - simply whisk all of the ingredients together until you have a smooth icing. I think it's sweet enough, but feel free to add more sugar if you think it needs it, it will only make it slightly thicker.
7. To ice, I just add the icing to the top, smooth it out and dust on some cinnamon to serve.

I hope you enjoy, let me know if you do.

Zoe

ps. apologies for the bad iPhone photos - but needs must!