I was first introduced to carrot cake at the age of 6. Too young I tell you. My uncle was visiting us and invited us to come over and visit him at his hotel. He generously ordered room service and in came the waiter with a nicely decorated trolley with carrot cake and other stuff which I can’t remember. I can still see the tiny carrot on top of the cake which completely turned me off (I was 6 – who wants to eat a vegetable cake at that age?). The next time I saw a vegetable cake was at Mount Holyoke and I decided to be bold and try it. Since then I have been addicted. My love for baking was reignited with a craving for carrot cake and the best option I had was to bake it myself. I’m sure there are many versions of carrot cake going around. The very first ever carrot cake I made also had raisins in it and not just the typical walnuts. My sister (an avid baker herself) suggested I try it without raisins next time, I believe more to suit her taste buds than anything else. But I’m a sister-pleaser, so there I was, at it again in a few weeks and baking it without raisins this time round. Much better! So here’s a version of it and I hope you enjoy it. This cake is super moist so handle with care when icing and taking it out of the pan. I always bake this one whole day before it needs to be served, the flavours just come together so much better, the cake sets well and gels with the icing beautifully. I’ve stopped using any sort of electric mixer to beat the batter or any part of the ingredients. It’s easier, faster and moister if you just bring everything together with a spatula.
A recent discovery – Frozen Carrot cake! I made a huge carrot cake this one time and there were leftovers which were just too much for my husband and myself, so we decided to freeze it. A few days later when the sugar craving was kicking in my husband was digging through the freezer and too impatient to let the cake come to room temperature or even defrost it in the microwave. It was eaten straight out of the freezer and I have to say it was a pleasant surprise. The Cream Cheese Icing ends up in a texture close to Frozen Yogurt which gives a cake a nice twist. Try it sometime – you won’t regret it.
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup walnuts
3 cups grated carrots
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 packet icing sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 180 C
- Mix sugar eggs and oil and then add the dry ingredients
- Fold in walnuts and carrots and spread in pan
- Bake for 1 hour and cool
- For the frosting, mix all ingredients together and apply on cooled cake
