This week’s prompt from Charli at the Carrot Ranch is;
March 16, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about carrot cake. It can be classic or unusual. Why is there cake? How does it feature in the story. Go where the prompt leads.
Now readers of my blogs know that, as far as these challenges are concerned, I tend to go for an historical take. But this prompt gave me a great deal of difficulty, for Carrot cake is not an old variety of cake, it is very modern being first recorded in the early twentieth century (1903 to be precise). So what was I to do, clearly I had to mix carrots with another sort of cake, in this case a phrase (also modern, dating from 1538 – I am an archaeologist and for us modern, technically early modern begins in 1485). Hope you like it. In case you’re wondering the speakers are talking in Dutch.
Some old varieties of carrots.
“People lost so much money with those Tulips, no one is going to want to invest in a plant again.”
“But this is different.”
“Forget it, you can’t have your cake and eat it, as the English say.”
“But you can eat it, it’s delicious.”
The banker looked up, the gardener continued.
“What’s the full name of our king?”
“William of Orange.” The banker replied, puzzled.
He pulled a cloth off his basket, inside were carrots, not white or purple, but orange.
“A patriotic vegetable – we will certainly have our cake and eat it, we will make a fortune!”
Originally carrots came in a whole range of colours, then, in the late seventeenth century Dutch plant breeders developed the orange variety we have to day. It caught on because the colour was linked to the Dutch Royal Family, the House of Orange
The Curious Archaeologist 
Well Gordon you have surpassed yourself this time. This is a brilliant take on the prompt. I loved it 💜
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Reblogged this on willowdot21 and commented:
Love this have your cake and eat it!!
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I am glad you enjoyed it.
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I really did.
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I had no idea carrots we’re so new in UK or the royal reason for becoming so popular. This flash could be an entry for the Annual Bloggers Bash competition. Royalty is the theme.
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Carrots weren’t that new, they had been around for centuries, but they were mostly white or purple in colour. It was the Dutch, in the seventeenth century, who bred an orange carrot in honour of the Dutch royal house. Carrot cake, however, is very modern. It was first recorded at the beginning of the twentieth century in north America, but did not become common in Britain until the second world war when people were encouraged to use vegetables as much as possible in their cooking.
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Beautifully done!! :–)
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Purple carrots are becoming popular at the farmers markets these days. I like that you invite the reader to the Dutch language as the story of orange carrots unfolds.
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Pingback: Carrot Cake « Carrot Ranch Literary Community
Most interesting. Have you ever heard of parsnip cake?
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