Scrumptious Carrot Cake

According to TLC food network, carrot cake (...not the singapore version) is presumed to be one of the 10 most popular desserts in America. And for some reason I've just been hearing a lot about carrot cake. 

Honestly, I never really cared much for carrot cake until I tried it at my patisserie class. I can now say with guarantee that carrot cake is perhaps one of the most delightful blends of sweet and spicy cake lathered in creaminess.

The goodness of carrots can be used to trick yourself into thinking this is perhaps a healthy dessert option too ;). And just incase you are one not to fall of the diet band wagon, you could choose to lighten up the dessert by reducing the level of the decadent cream cheese frosting and a few other minor adjustments like reducing the amount of sugar and oil, while adding pineapple juice or orange juice to preserve the moistness.

But even without making these adjustments, you would be getting enough nutrients from the carrots by themselves. Carrots are considered to be an excellent source of vitamin A, and good sources vitamins C and K, fiber and potassium.

I am quite impulsive with my baking... I bake whenever I can… and this was just one of those days where I just needed to bake… You honestly don’t need any excuse to make this easy, moist and scrumptious dessert, which is sure to vanish in like a nano second. Even if it doesn’t, the frosted version of this desert stores well for a few days in the refrigerator almost as well as the plain cake, which lasts for a week or maybe even two in the fridge.

What you will need:

Utensils:

Three large mixing bowls, A large whisk, a set of measuring spoons, weighing scale, flour sifter, spatula, grater, aluminum foil, baking paper, a pair of scissors, pastry brush, 8-inch ring cake mould / 8-inch loose bottomed cake tin, a serrated knife and a handheld mixer

Ingredients:

Eggs                                                                        2

Walnuts, chopped                                                50gms

Baking Powder                                                     ½ tsp

Baking Soda                                                         ¼ tsp

Flour                                                                     100gms

Cinnamon Powder                                                ½ tsp

Caster Sugar                                                        100gms

Carrot, peeled and grated                                    100gms

Oil                                                                          100gms

Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese                                                        100gms

Icing Sugar                                                              2 Tbsp

Orange Juice                                                           2 Tsp

Vanilla Essence                                                       2 drops

How to start:

Start by preheating the oven to 150 degree C.

Next prepare your cake mould.

Cover the bottom tightly with tin foil and place on a baking tray. Now use a pastry brush and grease the foil bottom and sides of the ring mould. Using the rim of the mould as your guideline cut a circle shape out of the baking paper and place at the bottom of the mould, on top of the greased aluminum base. Similarly, taking the height of the mould as a guideline cut a long strip to go around the side of the mould. And that’s your mould ready to be filled in.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla essence and whisk together.

In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda. Add walnuts and combine everything.

Slowly fold in the flour mixture with the egg mixture. (You can do this with a spatula or even by hand… Folding by hand ensures you do not overmix the batter)

Squeeze the grated carrots for any excess liquid and fold into the batter. If the batter is too dry/thick, add some of the squeezed carrot juice.

Pour this batter into you prepared ring mould and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25inutes.

Insert a toothpick in the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean, your cake is ready.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes before you remove it from the mould ( you better wait for it to cool or you might burn yourself against the hot mould)

Cool completely before removing the baking paper from the cake.

Once the cake is cooled, use a serrated knife to split the cake horizontally so that you now have two round cakes.

Prepare the frosting:

In a large bowl, add the cream cheese and beat with a handheld mixer until smooth and lump free. Sift in the Icing sugar and mix on low speed until well combined. Lastly add the orange juice and vanilla essence and mix well.

Refrigerate the frosting for 20-30minutes before frosting the cake (Refrigerating the frosting makes it easier to work with and set faster on the cake).

To Assemble:

Take two big spoons of the frosting and put it on top of one of the two cake rounds.

Use a butter knife and evenly spread the frosting to completely cover the cake top. Cover this frosting layer with the second cake round and press gently (If you press too much the frosting will ooze out on the sides… adding cleaning the cake sides as another task for you).

Frost the top and sides of the cake the same way and leave to set for 15 minutes. 

You can decorate the cake with carrots made of cake, (Ill put up instructions for that soon) or just with some chopped walnuts and grated carrot.

And Enjoy with a warm cup of tea or coffee or just as an indulgence.