Love Cake January 2016 Round up

The month of excess that is December has passed us by and left in January with half used jars of mincemeat and packets of marzipan. So let's see what everyone has been making this month for our theme of 'No Waste'.

Whatever the time of year it is you can easily find yourself with a surplus of egg whites whether it's from making custard or ice cream. Kate from The Gluten Free Alchemist had a pile of 5 egg whites which needed using up. She had a thought back to her childhood and decided to create a gluten and dairy free Angel Cake. As light, white and mallowy as you would expect it just without the gluten.

If there's one ingredient that's often leftover in the New Year it is marzipan. Choclette over at Tin and Thyme didn't let the 12 days of Christmas pass before using up her marzipan in a batch of Twelfth Night Lemon Cardamom Marzipan Cakes. They have a subtle hit of cardamom to them plus an extra hit of almond flavour with some ground almonds.

If it's not marzipan that you have left over after Christmas then it has to be mincemeat. Phil at As Strong As Soup found himself in a similar situation to me with jars of reduced mincemeat in the cupboard. His solution was his version of Pascale Week's Mincemeat Cake.

Some people aren't convinced when it comes to adding vegetables to bakes. I would always disagree with this as one of my favourite cakes is carrot cake. Another vegetable that goes well in sweet bakes is parsnip as Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen knows well. Parsnips have a natural sweetness to them so are perfect in this Sweet Parsnip Pie with Edible Flowers.

If there's one food in your house that guaranteed to be ripe one day and and past its best the next it is bananas. Dominic in his Belleau Kitchen has been making sure his brown bananas don't go to waste by giving a twist to a banana cake with a Banana, matcha and blueberry loaf.

Since we've planted a load of raspberry canes in the garden I've been noting ways of using up raspberries when the glut hopefully appears this summer! Jean at Baking in Franglais found that summer had come early with a punnet of reduced raspberries but they weren't all fine for eating on their own so into a cake they went! With a Bundt tin at the ready they formed part of a Peach Melba Cake.

Last for the month is my Lemon, blueberry and yogurt cake. After Christmas I found myself with a lonesome lemon and a tub of neglected yogurt. With the addition of some superfood blueberries I had a quick cake which was light and fluffy. After a couple of days the blueberries sunk into the cake making it extra fruity.

Thank you to everyone who linked up this month and didn't ditch the cake for diet - remember cake is good for you! I'll be in a couple of days to celebrate the second birthday of Love Cake so that must mean cake!