Parsnip Cake with Whipped Maple Mascarpone Filling

Yum you guys. Carrot cake has met it’s match.

I saw this recipe on a UK website and knew I had to make it. I had to change a couple things in the recipe for what we have available in the US. I’ve never had, or even heard of parsnip cake so I don’t know if this one is even close to the the UK version. I do know this one is really good.

This cake is dense and moist somewhere between a carrot cake and banana bread. There isn’t a parsnip taste, but there is a vegetal spice smell that isn’t the actual spices. It’s very pleasant. The mascarpone filling is really creamy, not fluffy, and not too sweet. There isn’t any sugar, only maple syrup. I’m sure you could use a cream cheese frosting/filling for this too.

I kept the recipe in weight measurements which I much prefer over volume.

To make the cake I used;

12 tablespoons of butter
250gm turbinado sugar (can sub raw sugar or brown sugar)
100gm maple syrup
3 eggs
250gm all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp all spice
250gm grated parsnips
1 apple grated (I didn’t peel it)
50gm chopped nuts
zest and juice of one small orange

To make the filling I used;

1 cup mascarpone, softened
¾ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease two 8 inch cake pans. I also put parchment in the bottom of the pans. I do this out of habit. I don’t know if you need to do this step or not. I always do so I mention it here.
Melt the butter, sugar and maple syrup in a pan, let it cool a little
I used a hand mixer to add the eggs to the butter and syrup mixture
Add the flour, baking powder/soda/salt to the above
Add parsnips, apple, pecans, orange zest and juice to the above and mix
Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 45 minutes or so until they are firm to the touch and brown.
When the cakes are done cool them before removing from the pans. I had to run a knife around the sides of the pan to release the cakes.

When the cakes are totally cool whip all ingredients for the filling until stiff and whack it on one of the cakes and top it with the other cake and smoosh it down a little to make it look even and pretty. I dusted the cake with powdered sugar too.

There you go.