My first introduction to carrot cake was in school – it was part of the (then) Food and Nutrition Syllabus in Secondary 1 & 2. It was also my first introduction to sweet meeting savoury, the robust hit of brown sugar with cinnamon and all spice. I went on to play with the recipe over and over again through the years. I put in some orange zest, some ground ginger, and now I’m thinking of making a version that’s soaked in honey – though I’m not sure if that’s a great idea.
However, I am happy to present to you here the basic Carrot Cake recipe. It makes one loaf, which is different from my usual round cakes, too. But I always find this cake to be very moist, and cannot keep beyond 48 hours in our humid tropical climate. If you’re making this during cold weather (when you’re blessed to have it), I’d love to hear how the weather helps to keep your cake longer and affects the texture of the cake. Leave a comment! And enjoy the cake 🙂
Ingredients
- 125g Butter
- 100g Dark Brown Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 150g Cake Flour/Plain Flour
- 1.5 Tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger Powder
- 150g Carrot, finely grated
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170 Degrees Celsius. Line and grease a loaf tin. I used a 11.5 inch by 4 inch loaf tin, from IKEA.
- Before starting, sieve the flour, caking powder and ground spices into a medium bowl. Crack the 3 eggs into a small bowl and break the yolks. Lightly beat them with a fork, do not over-beat. Then, start making the cake by creaming the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer (on medium speed). The mixture will lighten in colour and become fluffy, about 3 mins.
- Add the eggs in 2 additions, beating well after each addition. The mixer can be at medium speed still.
- Then, turn the speed of the mixer down to the lowest/slowest setting and add the flour in 2 batches. Continue to beat after each addition until the flour is just incorporated. Do not over beat. Each addition will take about 45s to be incorporated.
- Remove the batter from the machine and throw in the grated carrot. Using a metal spoon, fold in the carrot bits until well distributed, about 1 min.
- Transfer batter to the prepared loaf tin, spread it around with a spatula to coax the batter to cover every bit of the pan. Bake for 35mins on the middle shelf of your oven.
- Test your cake at the 30min mark to see if a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out clean. Then, remove the cake and leave on a wire rack to cook.
- Serve warm with tea.
