1. Walnut Apricot Carrot Cake

Monday blues???

Cheer it up with a slice of golden walnut apricot carrot cake with silky cream cheese icing....

This moist cake is packed with chewy apricots, crunchy walnuts and juicy carrots. Golden syrup in the cake gives you a caramelized mouthfeel. Ricotta cream cheese leaves you with a savory finish.

The apricot is thought to have originated in northeastern China near the Russian border. In Armenia, it was known from ancient times (6000-year-old seeds have been discovered) and today is the main fruit culture grown in the republic. The Roman General Lucullus (106 - 57 B.C.E.) even exported some trees from Armenia to Europe. The iron-rich apricots helps in increasing red blood cell count. 

Walnuts have a rich history dating back thousands of years (7000 BC). Early history indicates that English walnuts came from ancient Persia, where they were reserved for royalty. Walnuts were traded along the Silk Road route between Asia and the Middle East.The addition of walnuts boost brain cells. 

Home of carrots can be tracked to dry and hot lands of Iran and Afghanistan. Earliest evidence of its use there was dated to 3000 BC. From there, carrot seeds were picked, carried and sold via caravans to neighboring Arabian, African and Asian lands, who all accepted carrots immediately and started crossbreeding and creating new types of this famous root. The carrots carry Vitamin C you need. 

The first depiction of the making of ricotta is an illustration in the medical treatise known as the Tacuinum sanitatis (medieval health handbook), the Latin translation of the Arab physician Ibn Butlan's 11th century Taqwim al-sihha. Ricotta cream cheese adds to your calcium intake.