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.
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- Zest of one orange
- 1/2 Cup Olive oil (125 ml)
- 1 Cup Whole wheat flour (115 gram)
- 1 Cup Self rising flour (115 gram)
- 2 Teaspoons Baking powder
- 1 Teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/4 Teaspoon Ground nutmeg
- 1/8 Teaspoon Ground cloves
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 3 Eggs
- 3/4 Cup Dark brown sugar
- 4 Grated carrots (240 gram)
Candied carrots
- 1/2 cup Fresh orange juice I used the juice from the same orange I took the zest from.
- 1/2 Cup Cane sugar
- 1 Carrot (outer skin removed)
Frosting
- Orange zest
- Lemon zest
- 1/2 Cup Cream cheese (114 gram)
- 1/2 Cup Gunter (114 gram)
Instructions
Carrot Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) and grease your baking pan.
- In a mixing bowl combine the flours, zest, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves and salt. Mix well.
- Separate 2 of your eggs. Put your egg whites in a mixing bowl with a small pinch of baking powder and mix until stiff. When turning your mixing bowl upside down the egg white should stay in place.
- In a bigger mixing bowl, combine your egg yolks, one whole egg and your brown sugar. Mix on medium for around 1-2 minutes.
- Slowly pour the oil into the sugar/egg yolk mixture and mix for another 1-2 minutes.
- In 3 parts mix the flour into the egg yolk batter until fully combined. This should take around 2 minutes.
- Fold in the grated carrot to the cake batter.
- Gently fold in the beaten egg whites into your cake batter, being careful not to take out too much air by over-stirring. The air prevents the cake from being too dense.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven until a tooth pick comes out clean. This takes around 50 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let the cake fully cool down on a cooling rack.
Candied Carrot
- Stir sugar and orange juice in a small pan over medium heat until sugar has dissolved.
- Add in the grated carrots and simmer for 5 minutes or until soft.
- Using 2 forks, lift the carrot shreds out of the syrup, draining off excess and pile onto a tray with some kitchen towels to absorb the excess liquid.
Frosting
- Combine all frosting ingredients in a mixing bowl and use a mixer on medium speed until it is airy and fluffy looking, around 4 minutes.
Cake Assembling
- Top the cooled cake with your prepared frosting, making swirls with your spatula to make a nice swirled look.
- Decorate your cake with the candied carrots before serving your cake. This is nice for tea time or as a dessert. Enjoy!