Purple isn’t a colour that holds a strong part in my life. It seems to come up in flicks and flecks and then disappears again.
When I think of purple I think of the purple cabbage dish my mum used to make as a child…oh how I used to shudder knowing that was going on to my plate. Any offers of her to make it again as an adult have been politely refused as really…you can’t fight history.
Purple, and I think of the beautifully scented lavander that sits outside my front door. A heady large bush that seems to have a constant stream of buzzing bees dancing on it’s purple flowered heads. Brush past it with your hand just after rain shower and you are rewarded with a heady scented smell that clings to finger tips.
I once had an oversized costume jewellery ring with a purple stone centred in the middle. An old flatmate had given it to me on my birthday. It wasn’t a considered birthday present, it was more the fact that I appeared in the room at the same time as he unveiled the ring. We used to joke that he had got it off someones dying finger….given that he used to keep a large axe in his room, and periods of ridiculously erratic behaviour… probably not a joke I would find quite so funny now.
Purple was on my leg recently. A peach sized bruise that I didn’t have the foggiest idea of how it got there. For two weeks I was reminded of the fact that I didn’t remember how something so big and sore had got there in the first place. (What is it about bruises that make you prod it routinely to make sure it still hurts?)
Purple is also the colour of an old brooch that has sat in a small wooden of mine box for a very long time. I’ve never actually worn it, so it still sits in little drawer surrounded by a purple ribbon, ready and waiting for that one day.
So what does purple have to do with my carrot cake? Well clearly I’ve used purple carrots. Those carrots with the deepest darkest of colour. Carrots that stain your fingers when you peel them, and carrots that scream out to be made into a cake. Not just any cake though. I had played with my carrot cake recipe before, using the purple carrots and all I got was dark coloured flecks through out. Where was the purple? (Like in this sourdough.) I needed to somehow let the carrot cough up its colour without becoming a stodgy lump by cooking it too much. I also didn’t want to put any vegetable oil, or sugar in there. Raising your eyebrows a little? Nope, stick with me.
Local honey and sultanas for sweetness. Pecans and wholemeal spelt for flavour. Carrots for well, purple. And voila, purple carrot cake. Maybe purple is going to hold a bigger part in my life now after all.
Purple Carrot Cake
400g grated local purple carrots
100g melted butter
150g local honey
3 beaten free range eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
50g roughly chopped pesticide free pecans
50g natural sultanas
150g wholemeal spelt flour
150g s/r flour
Grate carrots and melt just the butter just a little with them either in a pot or microwave. Just enough to melt the butter- which also releases the purple colour. Mix through remainder of the ingredients, leaving the flours until last, then folding them through too.
Bake at 180C for approximately 45 minutes, in a greased and lined tin.
cityhippyfarmgirl 
So delicious indeed Brydie- and purple is my favourite colour!
LikeLike
Just the cake for you then 🙂
LikeLike
Goodness Brydie, it really IS very purple! I like purple too. I’m sure it was delicious – did it taste very different from regular carrot cake?
LikeLike
Celia its different in that its heavier than a normal carrot cake, it does still have a carroty taste though.
LikeLike
when I was young my sister loved pink and I loved purple so I have always had it around me in some way – I had a ring with purple in it and now i wonder where it is – though it did come from a shop and not a corpse 🙂 I have recently bought a purple cardigan that I love. And I need more purple food in my life – yes please to purple cabbage dish. I love the sound of your purple carrot cake and your experiments to make it even more purple. Will bookmark! So you didn’t cook the grated carrot, just warmed them let their juices run free – is that right?
LikeLike
That’s right, you want the carrot to be warmed through enough only to release the colours. Anything longer and I would think it would be too heavy with the end result.
As for purple cabbage, you’re welcome to any of my servings! Ick.
LikeLike
Your carrot cake sounds fab Brydie, and I had a look at your purple sourdough recipe too, which looks magnificent. I implore you NOT to visit my blog as hilariously (or ironically!) I’ve just posted a recipe for your living nightmare – braised purple cabbage. Unlike you though, I love the stuff and could eat it by the bucketload (in fact the husband and I have been doing just that for the past week). I can relate to the ‘mystery bruise’ scenario – glad it’s not only me who suffers from those. I’d begun to think that they must happen while I was asleep!
LikeLike
Perfectly timed purple cabbage 🙂 Saskia if I was at your house I would be brave (and never rude!) And say what a delicious dish it was.
LikeLike
It looks VERY purple. I love how you made it with no refined sugar – sultanas and honey are excellent substitutes. I don’t seem to have a lot of purple in my life either but I do like purple flowers xx
LikeLike
Its funny, now I’ve done this post I will probably notice more purple around me. Making this cake will certainly add to it!
LikeLike
I love the use of local ingredients for this cake 🙂
LikeLike
Tandy it was a really great one to use a hell of lot of local ingredients… You know I like that 😉
LikeLike
I am chuckling away to myself, because I have had a draft post in my Blogger for months now, titled “purple carrot cake”. It has an ingredient list within, and it sits there and reminds me that I really do want a purple carrot cake. And now you have done one for me and I think I might just delete the very bare draft and make yours instead 🙂
I also laughed at the bruise experience. I do that too. Mr B doesn’t understand how I can have such a big indicator of impact and yet not remember how I did it. I’m glad I’m not alone!
LikeLike
No Mr Chocolate couldnt understand it either. Mystery bruises!
As for your cake, please make it, I would love to see how you do it. Mine had sat in my draft folder collecting dust for a long time too. Please bake 🙂
LikeLike
i had afternoon tea with one of my daughter’s recently and she’d bought a piece of gluten free purple carrot cake to have with tea..it was so pretty and really delicious..yours looks amazing and i am so impressed with all the lovely ingredients you used..i grow purple cabbage each winter and come spring i make salad with it together with carrot, parsley and chives..i love it so much it’s often a meal on it’s own..
LikeLike
Ooo that cake sounds GOOD! I’ll have to give it a try, though with regular old orange carrots, since we’ve already munched our way through the handful of purple carrots that we grew this summer. 🙂
Why is it that the most impressive bruises are always the one’s you have no idea about? So true!!
LikeLike
I have purple carrots in the fridge but would not thought of making a carrot cake with them…great idea.
LikeLike
That very splendid Purple carrot cake might make an excellent poultice for that bruise 🙂 I often walk into things when I am doing something else and find the bruises later, I had a particuarly good one on my rib cage which puzzled me hugely until I remembered that I had got stabbed by a pear tree branch while bending over to pull up some convolvulus.
I haven’t made a carrot cake in years and that one looks so good and healthy – num num num !
LikeLike
I cant get enough purple in my life. if I see anything purple I have to have it. Is that obsessive?.Purple makes me feel good. I would really like a piece of your purple cake
LikeLike
What a fabulous shade the cake is! I remember using purple carrots in a coleslaw and it really stained the whole mix a lovely shade 🙂
LikeLike
I love to use purple carrots myself too! I love it that you amde something else then a dinner with them! Your Purple carrot braeds look amazing! MMMM!
LikeLike