Friday 27 March 2020

Simple Carrot Cake

I think I baked this cake just so I could have cream cheese icing! I wasn't thinking about the orange carrot-y goodness or sweet local honey or the crunchy crushed walnuts. What I was thinking about was that creamy, tangy icing that makes any carrot cake complete (in my opinion).


Carrot cake with cream cheese icing.


My carrot cake craving began when I was leafing through an old copy of Backyard Farmer magazine, issue No. 12 to be precise. There was a recipe, submitted by Lisa Walker, for an 'As Simple As It Comes, But Oh So Delicious' Carrot Cake recipe from a cafe called Bruce's at Wynyard in Tasmania. I adjusted the recipe a bit, as I wanted to use spelt flours, so here's how I made it in my kitchen:

Simple Carrot Cake🥕

Ingredients:

1/3  cup brown sugar
1/2  cup wholemeal spelt flour
3/4 cup white spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 large carrots, peeled & grated (*I coarsely grated the carrot but think finely grating it would be best.)
1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts

1/2  cup vegetable oil (*I used macadamia nut oil.)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup local honey

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 170C.  Grease and line a cake tin.

2.  Whisk flours, baking powder, bicarb soda, cinnamon and sugar in large bowl.

3.  Blend oil, eggs and honey until creamy and frothy.

4.  Make well in centre of the dry ingredients. Pour in blended wet ingredients.

5.  Mix gently and, just before all the flour is incorporated, add in the grated carrot and 
     walnuts and finish combining cake batter. Do not overmix!

6.  Fill prepared cake tin with the cake batter. 

7.  Bake, on middle rack in the oven, for around 45mins. Cake should bounce back when lightly touched.


I didn't follow a recipe, like this one, for cream cheese icing. I simply beat together  1/2 tub of softened cream cheese,  a tablespoon or so of lemon juice and then added some spoonfuls of icing sugar until it tasted just right.


Wholesome ingredients.

This cake was oh so simple to make and it did taste oh so delicious....especially with that creamy, tangy cream cheese icing on top.



I've been thinking that I may just bake another carrot cake soon.  (After all, I do have half a tub of cream cheese left over so could make more icing.😉) Perhaps, I will try this recipe for the carrot cake that was judged to be Australia's Best. Apparently, the judges had a debate about whether carrot cake is really carrot cake without cream cheese icing! 

What do you think? Is carrot cake really carrot cake without cream cheese icing?

Meg

14 comments:

  1. That looks delicious Meg (I am also a lover of cream cheese icing)...I'm inspired to get baking. Take care x

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    1. Oh, a fellow cream cheese icing lover! It just adds that extra "Mmm!" factor! Meg:)

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  2. I think it's got to have the cream cheese icing for sure....I look forward to trying this thanks for the recipe Meg. Have a good weekend.

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    1. I hope it turns out well when you bake it, Kathy. It's quite easy to make. I get my spelt flours from Simply Good at Alderley. Have a lovely weekend too. MegXx

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  3. must have cream cheese icing.
    also Bruces Cafe used to be a weekly visit for my son and I when he was in college and finished early on Thursdays, that was when Lisa owned it. It's still a bustling cafe now but the vibe has changed, we don't really go there anymore.
    cheers Kate

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    1. Hi Kate. Thank you for sharing a little more about Bruce's cafe. It sounds like it was a favourite cafe for you.
      Meg:)

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  4. I think carrot cake is one of the best too. I make one almost every week and in between do a boiled pineapple fruit cake which is what I made this week. I agree that its the cream cheese icing that makes it so much better and the walnuts too.

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    1. Boiled pineapple fruit cake sounds delicious, Rosie. I've never made one of those. I have made hummingbird cake and also a date loaf with pineapple in and both were lovely. Cream cheese icing and walnuts...yum! Meg:)

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  5. I haven't made a carrot cake for years but when I did I always included the icing, it is definitely an important part of a carrot cake. Yours look so good in your picture, if you weren't so far away I would be popping round for a piece x

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    1. This is the first time I've made carrot cake. It was that cream cheese icing, on the cake in the magazine photo, that got me thinking about baking one. It just looked so scrumptious! It would be lovely to have you around for afternoon tea...one of us would just have to move countries! MegXx

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  6. I've never had carrot cake, can I make it without the nuts (I'm allergic)

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    1. Hi Marlene. Yes, you could make it without the nuts. It would still be rather delicious. MegXx

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  7. That looks amazing, Meg. I love your photos. I have been baking, too. I made a batch of peanut butter cookies last week with ingredients from the stockpile. There are two left. I plan to make either an apple crisp or butterscotch toll house cookies in the next day or two. I'm glad that you have the ingredients for baking and preparing meals. It makes all the difference.

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    1. My Mum used to make peanut butter cookies for us when I was a girl, Stephanie. They are still my favourites and she still makes them when I travel home to see her. They are so moreish!

      I am so glad that we have pantry staples. It means I can continue home cooking during this time when we all need to stay at home. That certainly makes a difference. Meg:)

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