Lemons, Carrots and Muddy Boots

Warmer days, muddy hikes and cake!

Mar 02, 2025

The coffee pot is on, there’s a gentle hum of jazz playing through the house and Hiro is sound asleep in his usual sunbathing spot on the window bench. After what feels like a hectic couple of months dealing with and coming to terms with Hiro’s condition, life finally seems to have found a sweet equilibrium again.

Hello, friends - and welcome back! Two things have brought me a lot of joy this week, and luckily, they go hand in hand: 1) Hiro is well enough to enjoy hikes again, and 2) the sunshine has arrived! I don’t think we’ll be hanging up our muddy boots anytime soon. But after months of soggy, soaking walks, it’s a relief to come home without being caked in so much mud.

Next Tuesday is Pancake Day and to celebrate I’ve decided to dedicate the week to them and make pancakes every single day! I’ve been building a list of different types that I’ve wanted to try for ages, so this feels like the perfect excuse to finally work through some of them.

This will also tie in nicely with finding a new addition to the beandog menu! I reckon those fluffy Japanese pancakes would be an absolute winner, but I’ll let you guys be the judge of that and see what you think looks best at the end of the week.

There are a few other bits and pieces I’ll be working on this week too - like revamping my About page and figuring out the rollout for some of the new features I’ve been planning.

If you’re a paid subscriber, keep an eye out for the first Wednesday Waffle and first initial details of my book coming soon!

Hey you! By subscribing, free or paid, you’re supporting my work

Lemon loaf cake

The first bake of the week was actually the runner-up from last week’s poll - and honestly, something that should be on the beandog menu regardless I think. Because who doesn’t love a lemon cake?!

Hopefully you can tell from the photos when I say - I think this was my softest crumb yet! I’ve started using a probe thermometer alongside the usual toothpick test to check the internal temperature of my cakes. Underbaking has never really been an issue for me, but as you know, I always second guess whether something is actually done. Especially when trying new bakes. This little trick has been such a game changer and I can’t recommend it enough!

Something new for this lemon loaf was using double cream for the icing - another game changer! Thick, creamy and worked so well with the lemon.

It’s got me wondering… what else could work for icing? Would Greek yogurt work? If you have any ideas or ones to try, please let me know in the comments!

Recipe: Carrot cake

On to the winner of our poll - a carrot cake, topped with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting! It was no surprise that this came out on top of the polls - it really is one of those classic cakes, isn't it. One that goes perfectly with tea, coffee or just as a treat on its own!

I’ve decided that a lot of the cakes I will make for the beandog bakery will be ‘loaf’ shape. I just think slices work so much better than wedges (though let’s be honest, wedges definitely have their time and place… I’m looking at you, chocolate cake!).

If you want to give this carrot cake a go, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:

160g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
120ml vegetable oil
100g light brown sugar
50g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
½ tsp vanilla paste
150g grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots). If you have one to hand, I find using a food blender with the grating attachment works best.

For the topping:

85g cream cheese
60g icing sugar

Method:

Preheat & Prep: Set your oven to 155°C fan and line your 9x5-inch loaf tin with baking paper. (I use the pre-made inserts, makes it so much easier!)
Dry Ingredients: In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger.
Wet Ingredients: In another bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
Combine: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix gently until almost combined.
I find that stopping just short of fully mixing, when you can still see a few streaks of flour, helps prevent over mixing once you fold in the extra ingredients. That way, everything comes together just right without overworking the batter!
Fold In: Stir in the grated carrots.
Bake: Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. OR, if you are going to start checking the internal temp - you’re looking for somewhere between 96°C to 99°C.
Cool: Let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Topping: Mix 85g or cream cheese with 60g icing sugar until smooth. I find sifting the icing sugar help it all combine easier.

Enjoy!

If you give this recipe a go, please let me know!

I know not everyone can subscribe to every Substack they read (trust me, my inbox is proof of that!). But if you’d like to support my work in another way, you can now buy me a coffee on Ko-fi! Every tip goes towards my upcoming recipe book!

Buy me a coffee

French Madeleines

I’ve been wanting to try making madeleines for ages, so I picked up a silicone mould this week to give them a go.

I’d tried these once or twice before, but what I wasn’t prepared for was just how dangerous it was make these fresh… they’re too bloody delicious!! The thing about making something that you can put in mouth whole, is that you can’t just have one. Or two. Or even three… you get the picture. Let’s just say I may have accidentally inhaled more than a few whilst taking photos.

I’d read that you should butter and flour traditional moulds but not silicone ones, so I did a little test - one batch with and one without. Honesty I found no difference whatsoever and both were super easy to pop out of the moulds once baked.

I’m so glad my first batch of French Madeleines turned out so well, as are my friends - and I’ve got some great ideas for flavours and textures that I want to experiment with. For my next batch I want to try an almond version with a frangipane filling - but it does make me wonder… at what point does a madeleine stop being a madeleine?

Well, that’s all from me today, friends. Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my little corner of the world.

As always, feel free to leave a comment or just say hi. I love hearing from you!