Every restaurant I visit I look to see what kind of delicious cakes they serve and taste them for inspiration. Most cafes serve carrot cake and most of the time they combine carrot cakes with nuts and/or raisins. With my son having a nut allergy, I wanted to make a recipe that he could enjoy, too.

This carrot cake recipe is so delicious, moist and fresh. The combination of the full flavor cake and the sweet frosting with the candied carrot, gives it the right balance of fresh and sweet.

Ingredients

• Oranges give the cake its fresh taste.
• Olive oil for the moist texture of the cake.
• Whole wheat flour for a more filling cake texture.
• Cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg gives it extra depth.
• Dark brown sugar gives the cake the dark colour.
• Graded carrot can’t be missed in a carrot cake; the candied carrot on top gives it a nice extra sweet flavor on top of the cake.
• Eggs should be brought to room temperature before using
• Self-rising flour-if you don’t have this you can replace it with all purpose flour and baking powder.

For the frosting, I used orange and citrus zest, cream cheese and junket. Junket is something easily found in stores here in the Netherlands. If this is not the case for you, you can easily replace it with thick greek yoghurt. Whether you use greek yogurt or junket, your carrot cake will be delicious.

Instructions

Cake:

Mix together the flours, zest and spices in a mixing bowl. Carefully separate your two egg whites and egg yolks into two bowls. Beat the egg whites until fluffy; if you can turn your mixing bowl upside down without it dropping out, it has the right consistency. I used the kitchen aid mixer, but a hand mixer works, too.

In the bigger bowl, mix the egg yolks and 1 whole egg together with the brown sugar. After mixing for 1-2 minutes, you will add the olive oil until combined for around 1-2 minutes. Then, add your flour mixture. After the flour is combined with the egg yolk, stir in the graded carrots. Slowly fold the egg whites into the carrot mixture, making sure you keep the air in the egg whites. 

Pour into prepared cake pan and bake until golden brown and/or a tooth pick comes out clean. 

Candied carrots:

While the cake is baking in the oven, start to prepare your candied carrots. Cook the sugar, orange juice and graded carrot until soft and sweet. Place the candied carrots on a piece of paper towel to drain the extra liquid.

Frosting:

The frosting is made by combining the junket, orange zest, lemon zest and cream cheese.

When your carrot cake is done, take out of the oven and let it fully cool before frosting and topping with the candied carrot peels. A cooling rack is the easiest way to cool down your cake before frosting. I used this one.

Once the carrot cake is fully cooled, add your frosting and feel free to play with it to make a nice design on top of the cake. Before serving, add your candied carrots and enjoy with a warm cup of tea or coffee. If you want to serve this as part of High Tea you can also make this easy, delicious pound cake on my blog.

 

This is a super light and flavorful cake with the freshness of pear in it, which is a favorite fruit in my house. The combination of spices and pear combined to make this cake a sure hit, and a perfect fall or winter treat. My stores where full of pears, so I knew I had to create something yummy.

Ingredients 

• Unsalted butter: Make sure your butter is room temperature and unsalted or your cake will be too salty.
• Sugar: I used regular cane sugar for this cake. If preferred, you can use coconut sugar, but I haven’t tried it with this recipe yet.
• Eggs: Eggs should be brought to room temperature before using.  
• Vanilla extract
• Milk: I prefer to use whole milk. 
• Flour: Regular unbleached or pastry flour works best.
• Baking powder
• Cinnamon powder: This gives the cake delicious fall/winter flavors. 
• Salt
• Pears: I used ripe, soft and juicy pears. For example Bartlett pears.

Instructions 

Start with beating the room temperature butter until soft, airy and fluffy. I typically use my kitchen aid mixer but a handheld mixer will work, too. Once you’re happy with the soft butter mixture, begin to add in the sugar and beat until combined and the sugar is fully dissolved into the butter. Finally, add in one egg at a time until fully combined and the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients.

Next combine the milk, flour and butter mixtures together. Start with 1/3rd of the flour and mix in half of the milk. Once properly combined add another 1/3rd of the flour and the rest of the milk. Stir to combine in between. Then end with the remaining flour mixture. Stir until fully incorporated. After the milk and flour mixture is done it’s time to add the pear. The diced pear is carefully folded in to the batter. Do not over mix or you will let all the air out of the batter.

Baking

Now it is time to bake! Prepare your loaf pan. You can also use a bundt pan, as I did in the photos.

This pear cake is definitely a family favorite. My children love the combination of the cinnamon spice and pear; however, if you want to try a different loaf recipe, check out my posts for lemon cake and banana bread. 

 

 

This rich, buttery pound cake melts in your mouth while maintaining a light, fluffy texture. The hint of freshness from the lemon zest balances out the sweet from the sugar and vanilla. Pound cake is good on its own and delicious with some fresh fruit or whipped cream on top. If you double this recipe it can be used it as a base for a birthday cake, layered with frosting. I recommend using round baking pans for a celebration cake.

The recipe uses pastry flour instead of regular flour. Pastry flour is milled at a finer texture than all purpose flour and is made with soft wheat for a lower protein content. This helps baked goods to produce more tender results and a flakey crust. It is important to let your eggs and butter warm to room temperature. The day before I plan to bake a pound cake, I always take out my butter and egg to warm on the counter overnight. This allows me to start baking right away in the morning.

Room temperature butter is important for getting a nice, fluffy texture when beating it with the sugar. Soft butter blends really well with the sugar and gives the best results.

As you can see, in the standmixer bowl the butter is super fluffy here and ready to mix in the egg mixture.

I added pure vanilla extract which gives the cake a delicious vanilla flavor. I put in 1 1/2 teaspoon of this vanilla extract before adding in the milk and giving it a gentle stir.

Now slowly add the egg into the sugar-butter mixture. In a thin stream, pour in the egg mixture. I tend to pour in one egg at a time, guiding with a spoon. I let each egg fully combine into the batter before adding the next one. 

The batter combined with the egg mixture resembles scrambled egg at this point. Don’t worry, as soon you add flour it will look perfect.

Place 1/2 cup of pastry flour into your butter and egg batter. Sift it over the batter and add a little lemon zest as well onto the flour. Now gently fold the flour in with a spatula. Be sure to do this gently so you keep all the beaten air in the batter. Once the first addition is incorporated into the batter, add the next 1/2 cup of sifted pastry flour, and repeat until all the flour is incorporated.

Grease the baking pan and line it with parchment paper as seen in the picture above. The parchment will allow you to easily remove your cake from the pan when it is done baking.

Gently pour the batter into your prepared pan, and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake in a preheated oven set to 325 degrees Fahrenheit until a toothpick comes out clean.  This takes around 60-70 minutes. Every oven bakes differently so keep a close eye on the pound cake near the end.

The cake can also be used in a trifle.