Carrot Cake

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Who doesn’t love carrots? These crunchy fibrous roots are rich in vitamins, minerals and fibers that are good for your health.

You can throw them in salads, munch on them with a dip, stir fry them, make a sabzi/curry, bake them with meat or if none of the preceding ideas appeal then you can make this delicious carrot cake.

My recipe will give you a moist and dense cake which is not just sweet but also packs in loads of flavour. You can serve it for tea or even as a dessert. It tastes heavenly as such but if you want the added oomph then you can serve it with a butter cream frosting or a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Ah, absolute heaven!

I guarantee that post baking your kitchen will be redolent with the aromas of spices and vanilla that will linger to titillate you for hours. What could be better, right?

CARROT CAKE

INGREDIENTS

5 medium sized orange carrots/3 cups (shredded or grated)

1 ½ cups sugar (no more than that as carrots are naturally sweet)

1 cup light refined oil (no need to use butter. That will make the cake denser)

2 cups all purpose flour (maida)

3 eggs (at room temperature)

2 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp nutmeg powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla essence

½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts or dark non sweet choco chips (optional)

Note – most recipes that you will find on the internet do not call for whipping the oil and sugar together. They recommend mixing it well or whisking it. However, I find that using an electric mixer and whipping the batter gives me a slightly less dense cake and that makes quite a difference.

 

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C
2. Grease a glass baking tin approx 8×8 inches or 9×9 inches and keep ready (I use a glass baking dish because I use a microwave oven and I sometimes if the cake is slightly more moist than needed, I chuck it into the microwave and zap it for 3 minutes. This is not possible in a baking tin as tin does not go into the microwave)
3. In a large bowl combine the sugar and oil. Whisk it well to mix.
4. 
5. Add in the eggs one by one and continue whisking till all the ingredients are well amalgamated and the sugar has dissolved.
6. Stir in the vanilla essence.
7. In another bowl sift together the all purpose flour, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, salt and baking soda.
8. Add the above dry flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir to combine all ingredients well.
9. Fold in the carrots and walnuts/choco chips
10. 
11. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake at a 180 deg C for about 45 minutes or till done (if baking in a regular convection oven). I use a microwave oven so it takes me 1 ½ hours to bake. Perform the toothpick test to check for readiness of the cake. If it is still undone/slightly moister than needed, then you can simply microwave it on high heat for about 3 minutes. It will cook.
12. 
13. Cool for about 10-15 minutes before cutting else the cake will crumble. This cake will need to be stored in a refrigerator. You cannot store it outside.
14. Heat it slightly before serving with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.
15.  

 

Gajar (carrot) halwa