Lymington Dir AUGSEPT 22 (1) (1)

The surprising inclusion of watercress adds adeliciously peppery note to the
vanilla avour of this light cake. Teamed with acool cream cheese frosting, this
cake will godown atreat with children and grown-ups alike.
Serves 8-10
Preparation time 45 minutes
Cooking time 50-60 minutes
Ingredients
For the cake
• 125g watercress
• 285ml sunower oil
• 325g caster sugar
• 5 medium eggs
• 375g self-raising our
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
For the frosting
• 100g butter (preferably
unsalted), at room temperature
• 50g icing sugar
• 200g cream cheese, at room
temperature
To decorate
• Edible owers (optional)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C /160°C fan /gas mark 4. Grease
and line a20cm square tin or a23cm round cake tin.
2. To make the cake, chop the watercress until very ne –ideally
do this in ablender. Put it in amixing bowl with the rest of the
cake ingredients and beat until well incorporated. Try not to
over stir –itisn’t the end of the world if you do, but the cake
may not rise as well as it could.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the
preheated oven for approximately 50-60 minutes. The cake is
done when askewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Set the cake aside to rest for 15 minutes before removing it
from the tin. Leave on acooling rack until cold.
4. To make the frosting, beat the butter and icing sugar together
until pale in colour then gently fold in the cream cheese until
evenly mixed.
5. Spread alovely thick layer of cream cheese frosting over the
top of the cake and decorate with afew edible owers, such
as violas or rose petals, if liked.
Recipe created by baker and blogger Lizzie Crow (lizziebakingbird.co.uk/baking-blog/). For more watercress recipe inspiration, visit watercress.co.uk