Hopping into Spring

Welcome to the Spring Equinox Tarot Blog Hop. We were offered two themes for this Hop and I chose the second, which involves cookery for this blog post. Before I expound on this, here are the navigation links for my neighbours and the master list:

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So, to business! The theme I have chosen was given as follows:

Shuffle and randomly choose a card out of a deck that you feel is connected to the Spring Equinox. Please briefly mention in your blog what deck you used and why you feel it conjures up feelings of Spring for you. Now, imagine cracking an egg open and you find the card that you randomly choose inside of it. The card is your secret ingredient. Your source of inspiration. The challenge is to create a recipe that describes the energy of the card. Please don’t forget to mention what secret ingredient that card represents for you! 

I chose The Rabbit Tarot, because…well…bunnies and spring and Easter and BUNNIES! Duh! (It was either that or the Gothic Tarot, but that would just be because I’m perverse :D) I actually genuinely like the Rabbit Tarot, (it has one of the nicest Death cards I have ever seen), but it can be a little limiting because, well, sometimes even bunnies aren’t enough to solve all your problems. No, really!

I had some reservations about using this deck and since I’m not really a fan of rabbit meat, I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to dredge up a Rabbit Pie recipe. Fortunately, I drew the Two of Carrots. Phew! No bunnies will be sacrificed for this post!

Image courtesy of Nakisha as I didn’t have time to scan my copy, which is actually the 1st edition with the wide black border.

I believe that the suit of Carrots is equivalent to the Swords in more traditional decks and  is quite apt. I do seem to be between a rock and a hard place and not knowing which way to jump, so much of the time at present. It’s not so much down to indecision as simply having too much to do, spreading myself too thin and ending up prevaricating and procrastinating and generally falling down rabbit holes. Often I seem to be running in order to stand still, which is rather tiring. *sigh*

Right, as I said, I don’t have a lot of time and I’m digressing, so I will get on with the business in hand, to whit, the recipe! I must admit that the first thing that does spring (see what I did there?) to mind is Rabbit Stew, but I don’t really like rabbit or, indeed, cooked carrots, so not going there and no bunnies will die etc etc. To be perfectly honest, I did rather hope it would be Carrots, rather than Sticks, Tulips or Daisies, none of which are very appetising. I’m really very partial to carrot cake, however, and have been meaning to make some for ages, but I don’t bake very often. I usually use the recipe in my Good Housekeeping Cookbook, which I have had since I was about 18, but I don’t have time to transcribe it and the basic recipe is much of a muchness, so I’ll just share some links with you. Go with whichever one appeals to you, or get adventurous and mix and match elements from different recipes. 

This one just has a drizzle of icing rather than cream cheese frosting, and raisins:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3229/yummy-scrummy-carrot-cake

This is a more traditional version with walnuts and uses plain flour:

https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/classic_carrot_cake_08513

and another traditional one from Mary Berry using self-raising flour 

https://goodfood.uktv.co.uk/recipe/mary-berrys-carrot-and-walnut-cake/

As you can see, all broadly similar with a few variations. My version uses half wholemeal self-raising flour for a more robust texture, light brown sugar (usually a bit less than called for in the recipe, as I don’t like my cake too sweet*), walnuts (but not raisins), lots of spices, and lemon cream cheese frosting. Since nobody else in my household is a huge fan of carrot cake, I sometimes make carrot cake muffins. There are plenty of recipes available for these too, but you can use a large cake recipe, just remember is just to reduce the baking time. (I usually bake by smell – if it smells done, it probably is). 

*you can also substitute grated apple for some of the sugar, but you’d have to experiment with quantities to ensure that your mixture isn’t too wet as a result.

I have been mostly on a low-carb diet since last summer, which is partly why I don’t bake or eat cake very often, so if you have a proven Keto or low-carb version (that doesn’t look or taste like cardboard), I’d love to give it a try.

I do hope you enjoyed this post. Please leave a comment before you go and let me know your favourite carrot recipe, then continue your (bunny) Hop using the links below. 

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