It’s very rare that you come across a recipe like this one, that is simplistic in terms of both ingredients and procedure yet so incredibly rewarding when it comes to the final product. Personally, I had never been a fan of carrot cake until I tried my friend’s mom’s recipe and fell head over heels in love with it, as I’m sure you will too!
Composed purely of pantry staples, this recipe yields an exceptionally soft cake with a fine and light yet tight crumb. The subtly sweet flavour of the cake with caramelised carrot bits scattered throughout, pairs perfectly with the slight tartness of the cream cheese frosting.
I did test another variation of a carrot cake recipe with buttermilk (which is supposed to make the cake softer). However, I found that cake to be overly moist and dense.
This recipe makes a single layer 7” cake and enough frosting to ice that cake.
Ingredients for Carrot Cake:
3/4th cup freshly grated carrots (do not use pre-grated carrots as they are dry)
80g castor sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
80ml vegetable oil (or any neutral flavoured oil)
65g flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
⅛ tsp ginger paste/ grated ginger (optional)
Method to prepare the Carrot Cake:
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Grease and line a 7” cake tin with parchment paper.
In a bowl, grate the carrots using the large side of a hand grater and set it aside. This helps provide texture to the cake and you will find bits of caramelised carrot after baking the cake.
If you are adding the walnuts, coat them with some of the measured flour and set it aside.
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a separate, medium-sized bowl. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk everything together to combine. Set the bowl aside.
In a large bowl, add the egg and sugar and using an electric whisk, beat the two together (on high speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl at regular intervals) until a fluffy, light yellow mixture has formed that drops from the whisk in disappearing ribbons.
Note: It is important that you beat the sugar and egg thoroughly as this incorporates air into the batter and makes the cake soft once baked.
Add the vanilla and ginger and whisk them until combined.
With the mixer on low, slowly drizzle the oil down the sides of the bowl into the egg mixture. This process is known as emulsification and helps incorporate the fat into the batter to create a thick, homogenous mixture. Do not add too much of the oil at once as it will not mix with the water content from the eggs.
Fold half of the flour mixture into the egg mixture by means of a spatula.
Add half of the grated carrots into the flour and egg mixture and mix using a spatula.
Next, fold in the remaining flour mixture taking care not to overmix the batter.
Finally, add the remaining carrots (and any of the juices they may have let out while sitting on the counter) and mix until everything is well combined.
NOTE: Do not add all the dry ingredients at once as this will make your cake tough. Do not add the carrots all at once as this will split the emulsified mixture.
If using, add in the chopped walnuts and fold it into the batter using a spatula.
Pour the batter into the pre-lined cake tin and bake it for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean when removed.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack until it reaches room temperature and then demould it.
Store the cake in an airtight container. This cake stays fresh for 5 days.
Ingredients for Cream Cheese frosting:
56.5g cream cheese, room temperature
21.5g unsalted butter, softened
100g icing sugar
2tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp milk, room temperature
Method to prepare Cream Cheese frosting:
Leave your cream cheese and unsalted butter on the kitchen counter for about half an hour before using it to make the frosting. The butter should be soft to touch but not completely melted.
Add the cream cheese to a large bowl and beat it with a large whisk or an electric whisk for about 2 minutes until soft.
Add the butter and whisk it on high speed for 3-4 minutes until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
Sift in half of the icing sugar and fold it into the cream cheese and butter mixture using a spatula (to prevent the icing sugar from flying while beating).
Whip the mixture using a whisk until well combined.
Sift in the other half of the icing sugar and mix until a homogenous mixture has formed.
Add in the vanilla essence and beat for 2-3 minutes until a smooth mixture has formed.
If your frosting is too thick and cannot be spread easily, add ½ tbsp milk at a time and mix before the next addition until your desired consistency has formed.
This frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 week.
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