Hallowmass Neep Cake

Ingredients

• 200 g neep, left over from carving a neepy lantern
• 1 lime, juice only
• 225 g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 100 ml vegetable oil
• 200 g plain yoghurt
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 375 g plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp Shetland salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 100 grams chocolate, chopped
• 100 grams walnuts, chopped
• 100 grams Shetland butter
• 100 grams icing sugar
• 200 grams full fat cream cheese

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 180C and grease and line a large cake tin approx. 23cm diameter. Clean and sterilise your tokens (50p, 2p, thimble, ring, horseshoe or whatever you like! Look up barmbrack tokens for inspiration.)
2. Squeeze the lime over the neep and put all of it into a food processor, blitz until it is very finely minced.
3. Mix the sugar, eggs, oil, yogurt, banana, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Once well mixed add your finely minced neep and stir.
4. To your neepy mix add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and stir until well combined.
5. If using add the chocolate and walnuts and mix well.
6. Pour this mix into the prepared cake tin and place on the tokens, spreading them out so that more than one would not end up in the same slice.
7. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. While you leave it to cool make your cream cheese icing. Beat butter until soft and add icing sugar, cream until a smooth consistency is reached. Add the cream cheese work this into the mix using a wooden spoon until a soft spreadable consistency is reached. You may need to put this in the fridge to firm up.
9. Once cooled and icing has firmed up, remove the cake from its tin and ice the cake. If you want, you can also drizzle it with maple syrup for an extra sweet hit.
10. Gather your friends and family, get the kettle on, slice the cake and delight in who gets each token.