Smuggled Vegetables 

Kate Calvert offers some ideas

When I first made brownies with beetroot I discovered that parents really enjoyed them, but the minute they discovered its presence, children were much less enthusiastic. So in my experience, best not to discuss ingredients if trying to up the variety of veg our offspring’s diets. 

Tomato Sauce

Some children dislike lumps, other specifically dislike onions. But it’s a rare child who dislikes tomato sauce – as long as it has been liquidised. 

The standard recipe is to fry chopped onions and maybe garlic in oil before adding the tomatoes and perhaps basil. However, before the tomatoes go in you could add chopped carrot and chopped celery which is the Italian sofrito. Then it’s up to you what else you might like to add, the only limits being that it shouldn’t taste too strong – so not too much of it – and not be too visible. Pumpkin should be OK. Ditto fennel or cauliflower. Courgettes you might do better with yellow ones if you see them, though some people manage to hide a bit of spinach so you can really try whatever you fancy. Just go cautiously at first. 

Carrot Cake

This is pretty standard but having tested a couple of recipes it seems you can significantly reduce the sugar, and slightly increase the carrot, especially as the frosting offers plenty of additional flavour. 

• 3 eggs
• 250g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 200ml sunflower oil
• 200g muscovado sugar
• 200g carrots grated
• Juice of half a lemon
• 150g roughly chopped walnuts

Frosting

• 100g mascarpone cheese
• 200g Philadelphia cream cheese
• 70-100g icing sugar (check and add to taste)
• Zest of 2 grated oranges

• Set the oven to 180C gas mark 4. 
• Lightly butter two 22cm cake tins (think Victoria sponge) and line with a disc of oiled greaseproof paper at the bottom (put the tins on the paper and draw round to get the right size) and a strip of greaseproof round the sides. 
• Beat the oil and sugar until well creamed together. 
• Separate the eggs and put the whites in a bowl to whisk until stiff. 
• Add the yolks to the oil and sugar one by one and whisk in, further creaming the mixture. 
• Grate the carrots and add to the bowl, followed by lemon and walnuts. 
• Gently fold in the flour, followed by the whisked egg whites (as ever, use a metal spoon so as not to lose the air which has been incorporated. 
• Divide between the two cake tins, gently flattening the top. 
• Put in the oven for bake for 40-45 minutes. It will be done when a skewer comes out not wet, though of course a carrot cake is moist.
• Leave to cool before adding frosting. 
• Beat together the mascarpone and Philadelphia cheese plus icing sugar (I used a silicone spatula) and add the orange zest. 
• Use about one third of the frosting to sandwich the two cakes together, and the other two thirds roughly on top and if you want, the sides. This is not a fancy cake so it doesn’t have to be neat. 

Beetroot Brownies

This recipe has been tested with different levels of beetroot (it’s a hard job…). The sweet spot seems to be between one and two medium beetroots, or no more than 200g. More than that tastes a bit too earthy and gives the game away. Some recipes also include ground almonds but given the quantity of chocolate, that seems to verge on too rich. 

As with the carrot cake, this recipe reduces the usual quantity of sugar. The beetroot does add sweetness but if you have a sweet tooth you might want to increase the added sugar closer to 200g. 

• 250g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
• 200g butter, plus a little extra for greasing the tin
• 1 or 2 medium beetroots ready cooked (without vinegar) or home steamed and skinned.  
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 3 eggs

• Pulp the beetroot, draining them first if ready cooked. I use a stick blender in a deep bowl where I assemble everything with a spatula but you could use a food processor and add the rest of the ingredients to that.
• Line a 23cm square baking tin with buttered greaseproof paper (lay the tin on top of the paper and cut a square wider than the tin by the height of the sides. Cut a single line from the edge to each corner of the tin before taking the paper to fold into the sides of the tin, tucking the spare ‘tab’ behind the adjacent upright paper. 
• Place the chocolate and butter in a heavy based saucepan on a medium heat and stirat intervals until completely melted, after which leave to cool slightly
• Stir the melted chocolate and butter into the beetroot. 
• Beat the eggs and stir into the mixture. 
• Stir in the cocoa powder and plain flour until you have a smooth batter.
• Spoon this into the tin and bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is set and the mixture is starting to come away from the sides of the tin. A toothpick inserted into the centre will come out fairly clean but all that butter and chocolate does make for quite squidgy brownies.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.
• Once cool, lift the mixture from the tin using the edges of the paper and cut into portions. As it’s so rich I cut into batons rather than the traditional squares. (I have also on occasion inverted the brownies on to a plate held over the tin, and then using another plate moved them back the right way up.)  

Pumpkin Scone

The original recipe directs to cook in a pan and then flip, which doesn’t work as the uncooked side sticks to the plate you are flipping it with. (Who checks these recipes?) I suggest therefore cooking in the oven on a super well greased tray, or even better, silicone sheet. 

As ever, the raising agent starts to work as soon as it meets liquid, so to get the best rise you need to move quickly once all the ingredients are together. 

• 300g peeled and seeded pumpkin
• 140g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 70g butter
• 1 beaten egg
• 90ml warm milk
• 2 tsp thyme leaves (omit if they would cause problems)
• A few grinds of pepper (ditto)
• A little oil or butter

• Cut the pumpkin into chunks and steam until soft enough to mash. 
• Set the oven to 200C gas 6
• Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, pepper (if using) and salt in a mixing bowl. 
• Cut the butter into small pieces and rub in with your finger tips.
• Mash the pumpkin thoroughly with a potato masher before beating well in the egg, then milk and thyme leaves if using.
• Scoop into the flour mixture and mix especially well (if you don’t the pumpkin will be all too visible).
• Dollop on to the tray in scoops – it’s pretty wet. 
• Put in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. 
• Serve with butter, cheese and/or bacon.