Birthday Celebration - A Carrot Cake

I was undecided on what to bake for my father-in-law's birthday. I wanted to bake something for him, but not something with lots of frosting since we will be dining out. So I decided on a carrot cake. I've tried a couple of carrot cake recipes before and all of them are really good. This time, I decided to use the recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes (time to use it). I don't want to keep using the same recipe, and preferred to try a new recipe, even though there might be some risk involved.

I frosted it with cream cheese as the way I like it, even though the recipe given was with Creamy White Chocolate frosting. Since my in-laws are not a fan of cheese, I used only very minimal and frosted it very thinly. If it was for my own consumption, I would have doubled the recipe for the cream cheese frosting and spread it thickly! *yum* I also decorated it with some fondant, just to beautify it a little. The cake was very moist, just the way I remembered and like.


Recipe for Carrot Cake, modified from Rose's Heavenly Cakes (finally!)

Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
300g Plain flour
1 1/2 tsps Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Cocoa powder
2 tsp Cinnamon powder
190g Sugar (original was 300g)
100g Light brown sugar
269g Canola oil
200g Eggs (approx. 4 large eggs)
2 tsp Vanilla extract
454g Carrots, coarsely shredded (approx. 4 large carrots)
142g Raisins (I soaked in rum the night before)
120g Walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional, this was not in the original recipe)

Method:
1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and cinnamon.
2. In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with flat beater, beat the sugar, brown sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla on medium speed for 1 min, or until well blended.
3. Add the flour mixture and beat o nlow speed for about 20 secs, just until incorporated.
4. Add the carrots and the raisins and beat for another few secs to mix.
5. Add in the walnuts and mix just enough to incorporate.
6. Pour the batter into a 9" round cake pan. [Original recipe use two 9" round cake pan. That will bake for about 45-55mins]
7. Bake in a pre-heat oven of 175C for about 85mins, or until the cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
8. The cake should just shrink from the sides of the pan.
9. Let the cakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10mins. Remove and cool it upright on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
100g Cream cheese, softened at room temperature
50g Icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp Lemon juice
Some lemon zest

Method:
1. Beat cream cheese and icing sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Beat till incorporated.
3. Then frost the carrot cake, and decorate it.

14 comments:

Kitchen Corner said...
May 25, 2010 at 4:50 PM

Hi Jane,
This carrot cakes was added some walnut and raisin too! Wow! I suppose the texture is great with the chewiness and crunchiness in it. Hey, you are good in Chinese words hur! The fondant is nicely done!

Honey Bee Sweets said...
May 25, 2010 at 4:57 PM

Hahaha...I noticed you typed (finally!). Guess you finally got to bake a recipe from Rose's book. *sigh*...mine is still in the mail order. :P The carrot cake looks great!

Bakericious said...
May 25, 2010 at 5:04 PM

sua ku me nvr eat carrot cake b4 lei, i shd give a try someday hor

Passionate About Baking said...
May 25, 2010 at 5:05 PM

Hi Grace,
Thanks! Aw yes, I like my carrot cake with walnuts and raisins too! You should try it. It's chewy and crunchy, yes. Oh, my chinese characters barely made it! Hahaha...

Passionate About Baking said...
May 25, 2010 at 5:07 PM

Hi HBS,
Yes! I must try a recipe from my favourite baker! So it's "finally"! Hahaha... No worries, yours will come soon. And I'm sure you'll be busy picking out the recipes to bake! Enjoy! :)

Passionate About Baking said...
May 25, 2010 at 5:08 PM

Hi Jess,
I was like you before I tried baking carrot cake myself. It's really very easy, so much easier than baking cake you know. You should try it. It became one of my favourite cake after I started baking. Especially with the cream cheese! ;)

ReeseKitchen said...
May 26, 2010 at 8:36 AM

So far I've only bake a carrot cake once, and I like the thick cream cheese frosting like you did..;p I also made double and kept some in the fridge to spread on my bread..yummy! Thanks for sharing this recipe..:)

Angel @ Cook.Bake.Love said...
May 26, 2010 at 2:43 PM

The cake looks so rich. Drooling now. I want to make carrot cake for the longest time but keep on delaying as I am lazy to shred carrot. :P

Passionate About Baking said...
May 26, 2010 at 3:15 PM

Hi Reese,
I never thought to making extra cream cheese for my bread! But I think you can't keep long right?

Passionate About Baking said...
May 26, 2010 at 3:18 PM

Hi Angel,
Ah, you must try. Actually shredding carrots can use a shredder. It's not as cumbersome as blending pandan leaves, I thought. :p Hahaha...

ReeseKitchen said...
May 26, 2010 at 6:33 PM

Its only for 2-3 days..:) I can eat my favourite food everyday continuosly for 3 meals...haha!..;p

Bakertan said...
May 31, 2010 at 11:50 PM

Hi

congrats on baking your heavenly carrot cake =] I have only eaten a carrot cake once. Reading this posts makes me feel like trying out the recipe.

Passionate About Baking said...
June 1, 2010 at 8:01 AM

Hi Bakertan,
Yeah, finally a "Heavenly Cake" bake! ;) I've not tried any carrot cake before until I started baking it and liking it! Do try it out!

Honey Bee Sweets said...
May 19, 2011 at 5:49 PM

Hahaha...I noticed you typed (finally!). Guess you finally got to bake a recipe from Rose's book. *sigh*...mine is still in the mail order. :P The carrot cake looks great!

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