Abby's Heavenly Carrot Cake
Dear reader, I give you this lovely recipe- the result of many many baking trials. A spicy and rich carrot cake, incredibly moist, fine textured, and flavorful, with a hint of orange zest. What's this secret to this beauty? The magic of emulsion!
Ingredients
Step I
- 300g (3 c) finely grated carrots
- 150g (1 c) chopped walnuts or pecans + extra for decoration
- 75g (1/2 c) raisins --> optional 😉
Step II
- 210g (1 1/2 c) white flour
- 140g (1 c) whole grain flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder*
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbs cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- Â 1 tbs orange zest (about 1 orange's worth)
Step III
- 4 eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 320 g (1 1/4 c +2 tbs) sugar
- 210g (1 c ) vegetable oil (sunflower, canola etc)
- 70g (1/4 c) unsweetened apple sauce
- 60g (1/4 c) orange juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Prep:
- Preheat oven to 180° C/ 350° F. Grease and flour sides of 2x 23 cm/9" and line bottoms with parchment paper.*
- Grate carrots using the fine side of grater and chop nuts. Set aside.
- If adding raisins, pour these into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to soak for 15 minutes before draining. Turn out onto a clean towel and pat dry.
- Measure white flour and sift 3 times. Measure again, then all ingredients from step I except whole wheat flour and zest, and sift again. Add whole wheat flour and zest and whisk everything together. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine apple sauce, orange juice, and vanilla. Set aside.
Making the cake:
- In a large bowl, whip eggs and egg yolk at highest speed until frothy (about 30 seconds). Add sugar, a spoonful at a time, until mixture is light-coloured and thick (about 5 minutes).
- While still beating a high speed, slowly add oil in a very thin stream (this will take a while, and your arm will get tired, but hold on! This step is key to the cake's lovely texture).
- Reduce speed and slowly add applesauce mixture.
- If you have it, switch to paddle attachment (that's the one shaped like a triangle).
- A the lowest speed, add flour mixture, a spoonful at a time, and mix until fully incorporated.
- Remove bowl from mixing stand. Sprinkle 1/3 of carrots over batter and fold in with spatula. Add rest of carrots, 1/3 at a time. Fold in nuts, and then raisins.
- Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake on middle rack for 25-30 minutes, or until tester inserted in center comes out clean.
- Let cake cool in pans for about 10 minutes before turning out on cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before frosting. Frost with cream cheese frosting. Find my recipe for Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting here!
Notes
*If using Dutch (sachet type) baking powder, increase amount to 2 tsp (2 tl). To find out why, check out my post all about baking powder.
**You can also prepare pans the old fashioned way, just greasing and flouring, sans parchment paper. I've just found that for some cakes parchment paper works a little better.
For a lovely and even rise, I've started using baking strips (specifically these purple ones in the link below). They were a birthday present from one of my best friends and they really make the difference between a domed looking cake or and evenly risen cake.
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