I love carrot salads. Well, not really. I actually never liked carrots, and especially not carrot salad. When we were little we’d regularly eat carrot salad at home, and I never really understood what all the fuss was about. Yeah, carrots are said to increase your night vision, but the taste, nah, not for me. But then, as I grew older my palate may have changed or something happened, but I discovered the beauty of carrots. From the heavenly combinations of carrot and ginger, carrots and peanuts, carrots and spring onions, carrots and hummus – so many great ways to enjoy raw carrots .

One of my favourite ways to eat raw carrots is in coleslaw, that mayonnaisy cabbage/carrot salad. Yum. And, this recipe is actually a twist on your traditional coleslaw – ok, it’s without cabbage, but actually my original creation contained cabbage, so feel free to add Chinese cabbage to this salad.

What makes this carrot salad so super special is its Japanese-style dressing. It plays with lots of ingredients used in Japanese cookery, so you may find yourself scratching your head at the likes of mirin, rice vinegar and sake. Don’t worry, I’ve indicated simple replacements that will still make this salad taste great, so don’t run off to the shops and buy expensive new ingredients that you’re likely never to use again.

A note about the mayonnaise. I know that people in England tend to consider Hellmann’s to be a delicious mayonnaise… it’s not! Please, don’t use their ‘mayonnaise’ in this dressing, or best never use it at all. It’s just not right. Their white, fatty, tasteless spread has nothing to do with real, yellow, eggy mayonnaise. In fact, I always import my mayonnaise from Luxembourg, where we have the best mayonnaise in the world. Now, I don’t expect you to buy yours in Luxembourg too, but at least buy a really eggy mayonnaise – preferably French- or Japanese-style. The Japanese do in fact make the second best mayonnaise in the world (sorry, I have to be patriotic on this one, Luxembourg still rules!): so if you find yourself near a Japanese store, do go in and buy the mayonnaise tub that has a baby drawing on it (called Kewpie)! Yeah, it does look weird to buy mayonnaise with a depiction of a naked toddler, but believe me, you’ll never go back to Hellmann’s – ever!

Anyway, enough now! This is a great salad, perfect for sunny springtime days and picnics in the park.

Some of you may be surprised to find a plate of raw vegetables in this entry, instead expecting to find a hearty meat pie (as previewed on my Facebook Fan Page). No, don’t worry, I haven’t converted to the raw food movement (although I had a damn great raw food dinner at a new London restaurant last week). No, the reason that some beautiful carrot salad is staring at you is because I misplaced the recipe for the promised meat pies!

Yes, yes, yes, I know, I’m disorgaized. But it’s just been quite a bit of a whirlwind the past week. I’ve been planning the details of my food photography workshop that I’ll be running at The Hive European Blogging conference in Berlin next week. I’ve also been preparing TV shoots, researching great Berlin foodie hunts for an article I’m writing for Delicious magazine – and on top I’ve been baking, shooting what I baked, meeting friends and actually also working. Phew! And it’s actually at work where I left the said meat pie recipe…. So, please bear with me for another week, and enjoy this salad instead for now.

Japanese Carrot Salad

Serves 2 as a main, or 4 as a side

3 carrots
3 spring onions
10 radishes
3 tsp black sesame seeds (or normal sesame seeds)

For the dressing:
30g mayonnaise
1 + 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 tbsp sake (or 1 tbsp white wine or just leave it out)
1/2 tsp wasabi (or strong English mustard)
1 tsp sesame oil (this is essential! no replacement!)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger or ginger paste
1 tbsp mirin (leave it out if you don’t have it)
1 tsp sugar

Peel the carrots and grate them into fine shreds. Wash the spring onions and radishes. Cut the spring onions into fine slices, discarding the dark green ends. Cut the radishes into sticks or slices.

Prepare the dressing: mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until you get a smooth, liquid dressing.

Arrange the salad ingredients in a bowl, pour over the dressing and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Carrot Cake. What is more heavenly than the moist seductiveness of a creamy carrot cake?! Cinnamon, cream cheese and an unbeatable texture just make this cake the king of all baking creations for me. Yes, I love carrot cake. Badly.

I remember the first time I had carrot cake. I was pretty little, maybe around 10, and our American neighbour Rita handed us some home-baked cake over the fence that separated our gardens. I had a bite and was immediately transported into a totally new universe. I had never, ever tasted something like that before. Cinnamon, moist, juicy, creamy, and extremely sweet. Hell, I was instantly hooked.

But what followed were years and years of  disappointment. When, every time I had found a slice of carrot cake, that sad feeling would overcome me… It would normally come after taking the first bite and realizing that this cake was either too dry, too stodgy or simply didn’t taste of cinnamon at all. My search for that perfect carrot cake took me from Starbucks to small bakeries in Switzerland (where they call it Rübli Kuchen) and street markets in London, all in vain. That is until I discovered this recipe.

In fact, it was my friend Gordon who introduced me to the world’s best ever carrot cake. If it weren’t for him, I’d still be desperately eating carrot cake in every London coffee shop, sighing every time another disappointment would come my way. But for my last birthday, Gordon brought along this beauty, which he had made especially for me. A perfect carrot cake. So perfect it put a tear in my eye and instantly transported me back to that moment Rita handed me her slice of carrot cake. Heaven…

Now the funny thing about this cake is that it is no secret over-the-generations-handed-down family recipe. No. It’s in fact adapted from the recipe of a British sandwich franchise called Pret A Manger, which is actually owned by McDonalds!!! Ridiculous, ey?! It sounds like making coffee with a Starbucks recipe – pretty insulting to any proper foodie. But… I have to say… damn, it really is the ultimate carrot cake recipe. Amazing. Fantastic. Mindblowing. Unbeatable. What? I hear you say no! Well, go on and try it and tell me if you have a better one. I dare you! And if you do say you can top this one, I’ll happily try out your recipe. Promised. ★

The Perfect Carrot Cake

Makes 1 cake for 10 people

For the Cake:

2 medium eggs
200g brown sugar
150ml of sunflower or vegetable oil
200g plain flour
40g desiccated coconut
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
200g grated carrot
50g walnuts
75g tinned pineapple

For the Icing:

100g cream cheese
50g unsalted butter
400g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 150c. Line a square baking tin (about 20 cm on each side) with baking paper.

Chop the walnut and pineapple pieces so they end up quite small.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs at high speed, add the sugar and continue beating until pale and fluffy. Keep the whisk on at high speed, and add the oil in a steady stream. Keep beating until the mixture holds the shape of any trail across the surface.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, dessicated coconut, the cinnamon, baking powder, and salt, then fold into the egg mix. Once mixed, gently incorporate the grated carrot, the pineapple and the walnuts.

Transfer the mixture to your tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. If it browns too much before the middle is done, then chuck some foil over it to stop it from burning.

Prepare the icing. Cut the butter into little blocks, and then using an electric whisk, cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add the icing sugar in 3 parts, but hand beat the mixture at first (otherwise you end up covered in icing sugar dust). Once that is all in and mixed, carry on using the electric whist until any lumps have gone from the icing. Put in the fridge to set.

Once your cake is done, leave to cool for 10-15 mins, before turning onto a wire rack. Then, when it’s cool, spread the icing generously over the top.

Voila, pure carrot pleasure!!