Olivia made carrot cake - it must be love

I started this blog so that daughter Olivia could have recipes from home to cook when she was at uni, a little while ago. She's been and gone, got a 1st and returned to the fold. It soon became clear that I was more interested in writing the blog than she was in making the recipes, but yesterday she wanted to make her friend a birthday cake, and turned to cookable. So this is her choice - carrot cake.

I was impressed at the result, but then remembered what a teenage friend said recently 'cooking isn't that hard, really' and of course she is right. Teenagers know everything. Cooking is mostly a matter of paying attention.

This Australian Women's Weekly recipe for carrot cake is easy to make and not as sweet as some, just sweet enough. I boost the spice with extra tsp of cinnamon, to boost the flavour. I like to ice the cake inside and out, and prefer this citrus fudge icing to the more often used cream cheese icing.

'icing just right this time mum' (photo from April)

Carrot cake

Preparation and cooking time – 1hour 35 minutes

1 cup / 250 ml vegetable oil

1 1/3 cups / 250 g firmly packed brown sugar

3 cups / 220 g firmly packed, coarsely grated carrot (about 6 medium carrots)

1 cup / 120 g coarsely chopped walnuts
3 eggs

2 ½ / 375 g self-raising flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp mixed spice
1tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 160 C

I use two 23cm tins and bake for 40 mins

• Grease deep 23 cm round cake tin, lining base with baking parchment
• Put carrot and nuts in large bowl,  and sift flour, bicarb and spices together in a separate bowl, keep both to one side
• Beat oil, sugar and eggs in small bowl with electric mixer until thick and creamy. Transfer mixture to large bowl with carrot and nuts, stirring, adding flour mixing well
• Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake cake for about 1 ¼ hours, covering loosely with foil or parchment halfway through cooking, to prevent it browning too much on top
• Stand cake for five minutes before turning it onto a rack to cool

If you can stand it, this cake is better if left for a day to mature.

Date and walnut cake - easy

 A lovely cake that is somehow light and sticky at the same time. It has a slightly treacly flavour, punctuated by spices. I think the gingery tang I was tasting may have been my

I made two loaf cakes, using Delia's recipe, with two eggs, as my chickens don't lay large eggs. I was feeling lazy and used mixed spice, cinnamon and cloves, and didn't ice it, despite the lemon icing sounding lovely. 12 hours later, there's only one loaf left: I live with greedy people.

The method is nice and simple and uses two bowls, or a bowl and a jug, and something for stirring. No need for a food processor. The dates are primed by being soaked, briefly, in a bicarbonate and water mixture, to which you add butter.

This is a low-fat recipe, which giveth and taketh away, as it is high in sugar. But hey, walnuts are good for you, aren't they?