Juicer Pulp Carrot Apple Ginger Snack Cakes

As I mentioned in my Pork Chops with Apple Pan Sauce post, we have a new juicer, which I have been having tons of fun playing with. I was, however, having tons of guilt just throwing away the extracted pulp. Mom always said all the vitamins and other REAL goodies are in the outer areas of fruit and vegetables, so I knew I had to do something with this stuff rather than dump it down the disposal. After a bit of internetting for ideas, I made these...

Aren't they adorable?

These moist, tasty little buggers are low fat, high fiber, egg-free, and highly addictive. You can eat them with relative abandon and still feel pretty good about it.

First of all, to make these you need a juicer. That's pretty much the only way to get the pulp you will need. I thought about possibly suggesting you just grate the carrots, apples, and ginger, but that would leave too much moisture in the fruit/vegetable mixture and the cakes just wouldn't bake right. 

Before mixing the batter, make your pulp. Wash and prep about 6-8 medium carrots, 2-3 large apples (cored but not peeled), and 3-4 nice big hunks of fresh ginger (peeled). I happen to adore ginger, so the amount you use should be according to your own tastes. Run everything through your juicer according to its directions. Drink the juice while you're baking these or reserve for later. You will need 2 cups of the mixed pulp. Pick out any really large pieces of apple peel, but don't worry if there are some hunks of apple and carrot in there... they add a really nice flavor and texture to the finished product.

Now, we are ready to start the actual cakes...

1½ C flour

2 t baking powder

1½ t cinnamon

¼ C sugar

½ t salt

1¼ C milk

¼ C vegetable oil

1½ t vanilla extract

2 C carrot/apple/ginger pulp

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Stir well with a whisk or a fork.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together oil, milk and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and gently combine, being careful not to over mix (there will be lumps... don't worry). Gently fold in the pulp, being careful to mix thoroughly but not too much.

Scoop batter into muffin tins. Unlike muffins, these do not rise very much, so don't worry about over-filling. Fill the tins almost to the top. Bake for 18-22 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely. Refrigerate any leftovers (like that will happen).

Makes 24 cakes.

THE CAKE IS NOT A LIE!

There's a reason I don't buy a lot of bananas in the summer. They get ripe fast... really fast. They attract fruit flies... nay, they IMPORT fruit flies. My go-to overripe banana recipe is banana bread, and as much as we love it, it's not really a summer-friendly recipe. So I try to not have bananas around...

That didn't work so well this week. I ended up with several pounds of bananas, and Brian won't eat them past a certain point. Even though I kept them under a food net on the counter, the fruit fly population was still doubling by the hour (I AM NOT EXAGGERATING!!). This morning I woke up and knew something had to be done about the banana situation. After some brief contemplation, exploration of the cupboards, and adaptation of recipes I'd made in the past, I came up with this cake. Fortunately it was in the low 70s today, so having the oven on for an hour wasn't unbearable. People not living in cooler climes will probably want to wait for fall to try this. It is definitely worth the wait!!



Banana Pineapple Cake

3 1/2 C. cake flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 C. sugar
1. t. salt
1 1/4 C, vegetable oil
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, undrained
2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
2 C. VERY ripe bananas (4-5), gently mashed (I use a pastry blender and leave some nice chunky pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a standard size (12 C.) bundt pan. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar, and salt. Add oil, pineapple, vanilla, eggs, and banana, Stir gently until combined, then mix by hand until well blended. Pour into bundt pan and bake for about 1 hour or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove to wire rack and cool completely. Ice with vanilla glaze.



(notice that by using a bundt pan you are also utilizing aperture science... )




Vanilla Glaze

1 1/2 cups confectioners's sugar
1 T. milk
1/8 t. salt
2 t. vanilla extract
1 T. butter

Melt the butter and add to rest of ingredients. Mix until creamy. Place cake on wire rack over rimmed pan, slowly pour glaze over until cake is coated. Let stand until set.




This is a wonderfully moist delicious cake you can garnish several ways (or not at all). One thing I was thinking of was a banana split cake... a slice of this cake garnished with strawberry slices, a drizzle of hot fudge sauce, and a marachino cherry or two. Enjoy!!