Here’s another baked item to add to my ever-growing ‘best loaf cake’ round up; carrot loaf cake with ginger buttercream frosting.
I decided to make this cake because I had a bag of carrots that I bought for half price, but I may make a version of it again soon. Even more of our courgettes are ripening and I’ll simply swap the ½ pound of carrots for grated courgettes.
Again, if you don’t have walnuts in your cupboard, simply substitute them for chopped pecans or another of your favourite nuts.
This simple frosting was delicious… and the best use I’ve found to date for the excess liquid from a jar of stem ginger in syrup.
- 200g/7oz plain flour
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 150g/5oz dark muscovado sugar
- 200ml/7 fl oz vegetable oil
- 3 medium eggs
- 225g/8oz carrots, peeled and roughly grated
- 50g/2oz chopped walnuts
- 100g/3½oz butter, softened
- 200g/7oz icing (powdered) sugar
- 2tbsp ginger syrup
- Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2
- Grease & line the base and sides of a 500g/1lb loaf tin with parchment paper
- Sift the flour, spices, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together into a large bowl
- Stir in the dark muscovado sugar and mix together
- Lightly whisk the oil and eggs together, then gradually stir into the flour & sugar mixture. Stir well
- Add the carrots and walnuts. Mix thoroughly, then pour into the prepared cake tin
- Bake in the preheated oven for an hour, or until browned on the top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes away clean
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack. Reserve until cold
- Beat the butter and ginger syrup together until smooth, then gradually stir in the icing sugar until the frosting is completely smooth
- Once the loaf cake is completely cool, spread the frosting evenly over the top
- You could sprinkle a little of the stem ginger from the jar, chopped finely, over the top for an extra kick
Cakes & Bakes: Carrot muffins
Earlier this week, Justin bought a big bag of special offer carrots… and then, couple of days later, his mum gave us half a bag of her bulk buy special offer carrots. We had a sudden glut!
So this week’s cake baking had to utilise some!
Fortunately, we do love a good carrot cake, but decided on a little twist by making some carrot muffins with spiced Quark topping.
Cinnamon and pineapple are the dominant flavours – there’s a hint of ginger in there too.
Quark a fairly unusual ingredient with a taste and consistency somewhere between crème fraîche and cream cheese. We think it worked really well.
The resulting carrot muffins are moist and full of flavour – and just a little bit different.
It’s an easy recipe, so a batch can be knocked up quickly.
They’re a great partner for that afternoon cup of tea we talked about recently.
Carrot muffins
Ingredients
For the muffins
- 2 tbs vegetable oil
- 100 g/3½oz plain flour
- 100 g/3½oz wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 2 egg whites
- 5 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
- 225 g/8oz canned pineapple chunks in juice drained & chopped
- 250 g/9oz carrots grated
- 40 g/1½oz sultanas
- 40 g/1½oz walnuts chopped
For the topping
- 250 g/9oz Quark or any low-fat soft cream cheese
- ½ tbsp caster sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas mark 5. Oil a 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable or line it with muffin paper cases
- Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger into a mixing bowl. Add the caster sugar and mix together
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites then pour the milk and the oil and mix together
- Mash the pineapple chunks, then add to the egg mixture
- Add the carrots, sultanas and walnuts and stir together gently
- Add the fruit mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir together until just combined. Do not over-stir the mixture - it is fine for it to be a little lumpy
- Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cups in the muffin tin or paper cases (they should be about ⅔s full)
- Transfer to the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until risen and golden
- While the muffins are in the oven, make the topping. Put the Quark into a mixing bowl with the caster sugar, vanilla essence and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Mix together well, then cover with cling film and transfer to the fridge until ready to use
- When the muffins are cooked, remove them from the oven, put them on a wire rack and leave to cool. When they have cooled to room temperature, remove the topping from the fridge and spread some evenly over the top of each muffin
- Lightly sprinkle over the remaining cinnamon and serve
Cakes & Bakes: Carrot & coconut Bundt cake
We’re always on the lookout for vintage kitchenalia and baking equipment. We bought a mixed lot at auction recently that included an old Bundt cake tin – something previously missing from my cooking arsenal! I didn’t have to think that long about what cake to make so that I could bring it into service. Our local supermarket seemed to have a glut of carrots that they were selling off cheap – a big bag for a mere 55p!
I’ve already posted a favourite carrot cake recipe, so I thought I’d jazz it up a little and make a carrot & coconut Bundt cake.
Carrot & coconut Bundt cake
Ingredients
- For the cake
- 350 g/12oz wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 125 g/4½oz soft brown sugar
- 100 g/3½oz muscovado sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- 100 g/3½oz desiccated coconut
- 75 g/2½oz sultanas
- 75 g/2½oz chopped walnuts
- 350 g/12oz carrots grated
- 3 eggs
- 200 ml/7fl oz vegetable oil
- 300 ml/10½ fl oz milk
- For the icing
- 400 g/14oz cream cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g/7oz icing sugar
- 3-5 tbs water
- To decorate
- 20 g/¾oz dessicated coconut toasted
- 8 walnut halves
Instructions
- brew a strong cup of black tea (you could alternatively use Earl Grey or Lady Grey) and allow to cool
- soak the sultanas in the tea for at least an hour
- preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- in a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and make a well in the centre
- beat the eggs and combine with the vegetable oil
- pour the egg & oil mixture and milk into the well, drain the sultanas and add them to the grated carrot before folding into the dry mixture
- combine thoroughly until you have quite a wet, sloppy mixture
- pour the mixture evenly into a 26cm spring-form Bundt tin
- bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer comes away clean
- leave in the Bundt tin for 5 minutes before carefully easing the cake out an on to a wire cooling rack
- allow to cool completely before icing
- in a smaller mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, vanilla essence, water and icing sugar ( sieve the icing sugar first if there are any lumps )
- using a small spatula spread the icing over the cake allowing it to drizzle down the sides
- sprinkle over the toasted dessicated coconut and place the walnut halves evenly around the top
Cakes & Bakes: Carrot cake
Carrot cake with frosting is one of our favourite cakes.
The recipe I prefer to use is one I found in Baking – Simple Cookery Series.
Each of the cookbook’s recipes are in an easy-to-follow layout with a trio of images illustrating different stages of preparation then a full-page sized photograph on the facing page of the finished item. There are also “tasty tips”, “food facts” or “helpful hints” distributed throughout.
The recipe is really easy – basically just mix all the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients then stir in the carrots and walnuts.
The accompanying icing recipe contains orange zest and juice which I’m not a big fan of, so I use the frosting recipe that goes with the “Luxury Carrot Cake” recipe that’s a few pages further on in the book.
It has a really good texture – moist yet light, with a hint of spice and the frosting adds a touch of decadence! Just one question I hear you ask, does the carrot count as one of my five-a-day?
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 200 g/7oz plain flour
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 150 g/5oz dark muscovado sugar
- 200 ml/7 fl oz vegetable oil
- 3 medium eggs
- 225 g/8oz carrots peeled and roughly grated
- 50 g/2oz chopped walnuts
For the frosting
- 175 g/6oz cream cheese softened
- 50 g/2oz butter softened
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 225 g/8oz icing sugar sifted
- 1-2 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2, 10 minutes before baking. Lightly oil & line the base of a 15cm/6 inch deep square cake tin with greaseproof or baking paper
- Sift the flour, spices, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together into a large bowl
- Stir in the dark muscovado sugar and mix together
- Lightly whisk the oil and eggs together, then gradually stir into the flour & sugar mixture. Stir well
- Add the carrots and walnuts. Mix thoroughly, then pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 1¼ hours, or until light & springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack. Reserve until cold
- For the frosting, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla essence together until smooth, then gradually beat in the icing sugar until icing is smooth. Add a little milk, if necessary. Spread the frosting over the top. Refrigerate for about 1 hour to set the frosting, then cut into squares and serve