TTT Avocado pound cake with cream cheese frosting

Last week I baked three cakes for Sylvia's birthday.  I tried to keep it simple and plain.  Simple because my time and energy is quite limited at the moment.  Plain because there are so many ways to displease kids.  Neither plain nor simple is my strength.  I managed plain and simple with some twists.  Pound cake (also known as buttercake or madeira cake) is plain but mine was slightly green.  That is the joy of Avocado pound cake.

Not quite as green as I had hoped but greener than I had expected after using avocados with some grey patches and my yoghurt had some blueberries in it.  It was green enough for E to guess that it the cake might contain broccoli, spinach or courgette.  Green enough for me to smile with delight at the green puree in my food processor.

Sylvia then wanted a purple cake.  So I decided on some purple icing.  At which point she told me she wanted green icing.  Sometimes you can't win.  Fortunately she was more gracious about her presents.  E and I bought her a new purple bike.  I am not sure if it is more or less popular than the new dolly stroller from a local budget shop.  I think she will enjoy the bike more if the weather ever manages to find a balance between drenching rain and burning heat. 

Sylvia also received presents for her craft box as well as clothes, dress-ups, games and a new nurse dolly.  Little dolly is still ruling the roost but she is glad to have nurse dolly when she doesn't feel very well.  And Sylvia loves her new cape for being the wicked witch with her friend Gordon!  

Her dad bought her a 1970 movie of the Railway Children DVD.  She loves him reading her an abridged version of the story and was quite fascinated by the film.  Birthdays are about indulgence.  Watching a long DVD, eating pizza and then decorating a cake fit the bill.

I made a ring cake which seemed celebratory.  E thought it looked like a big doughnut.  While I am often happy to leave cakes plain (like Lorraine's afternoon tea loaf), I believe that icing is right and proper when it is a birthday.  I was surprised at how restrained Sylvia and I were in decorating the cake.  I suspect she planned to eat more of the sprinkles than she put on the cake but I did my best to stop her eating a handful of butterfly decorations. 

I was less successful at stopping Sylvia putting her face into the empty icing bowl.  It makes me laugh to see how much she embraces cakes.  Yet if I can make the treats a little bit more healthy I will.  Avocado was not just about colour.  It also imparted some buttery softness in the cake with healthy fats.  The frosting is one I like for not having a shocking amount of sugar and I love using beetroot powder to minimise artificial colourings. 

I served the avocado cake on Sylvia's birthday and it was lovely when fresh.  It was less popular when we had some people around for her birthday.  My mum commented that it had a slightly odd taste.  Probably the avocado.  I thought it barely discernible.  However I suspect the real reason that it was neglected on a table of party food was that there was tough competition.  I'll be back soon with her other two birthday cakes.

Meanwhile, I am sending this cake to Karen of Lovage and Lavender and Kate of What Kate Baked for their Tea Time Treats event.  The theme in February is Romance so I think this cake with purple frosting and pretty flowers seems just right.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Teatime and tales - for the young at heart
This time two years ago: Baking: the good the bad and the healthy
This time three years ago: Valentine Day Polenta
This time four years ago: If music be the food...

Avocado Pound Cake
Adapted from Not Quite Nigella

• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/4 cup cornflour (cornstarch)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• 1 (scant) teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup rice bran oil
• 3/4 cup castor sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe medium avocados
• 1/2 cup yoghurt (I used half plain and half sweetened)
• 1 tsp lime juice 

Cream cheese frosting (Adapted from here):

• 125g cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• purple colouring (I used a mix of purple powder and beetroot powder)
• sprinkles (sparkly, flowers and butterflies)

Preheat oven to 170 C.  Grease and line a 20cm ring tin (or a loaf tin).

Place flours, baking powder, almond and salt in a medium to large mixing bowl.  Mix well.  Blitz oil, sugar, eggs, avocado flesh, yoghurt and lime juice in food processor until smooth and green. Gently mix avocado mixture with dry ingredients until combined.

Pour into prepared tin and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.   Leave in tin for 5-10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the frosting, vigourously mix all the ingredients with a spoon (or use electric beaters).  Spread over cooled cake and decorate with sprinkles as desired.

On the Stereo:
The Trip: Various Artists: curated by Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey.