It might be funny to some, but this is the first carrot cake I’ve ever made. I’m a big fan of cakes made with fruits or vegetables, because these stay moist better than anything else. Honey cakes are a close second because of the hygroscopic nature of honey, but mango, banana, apples or carrots are my favorite cake ingredients.
This cake earned my mother’s stamp of approval, even though she has never before liked a carrot cake and she hates cinnamon. The spices certainly aren’t overpowering but they do add a warmth to the cake. It isn’t too sweet, and I think you can get away with cutting out more sugar. I should probably try a sugar free version in the future.
The cake
Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a 24 cm baking tin with parchment paper.
Start by mixing all the dry ingredients together; flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger. If your butter is soft you can mix it into the dry ingredients now, if you have to melt the butter first, keep it for last. Add your sugar, eggs and lemon juice. Grate your carrots coarsely and add to the mixture. I know some people always fry their walnuts before adding them to any recipe, I think this isn’t needed for a cake. Add everything together and pour into the baking tin you prepared. The cake will be ready within 45 minutes.
The glaze
Mix together one egg yolk, a tablespoon of white sugar, four tablespoons of mascarpone, a teaspoon of cold coffee and a tablespoon of almond syrup. If you don’t have almond syrup, use essence or amaretto and add more sugar.
Before adding the glaze to the cake, wait for at least 10-20 minutes until it’s cooled down. On top of the glaze I added some walnuts as decoration.
Ingredients
The Cake
- 175g (1,2 cups) flour
- 2tbs baking powder
- 175g (1 cup) brown sugar
- 160g (5,5 oz) butter
- ½ ts cinnamon
- ½ ts ginger
- 200g (7 oz) grated carrots
- Juice of half a lemon
- 75g (3 oz) walnuts
- 3 eggs
The glaze
- 4 tbs mascarpone
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbs white sugar
- 1 ts coffee
- Almond syrup, essence or amaretto
The Lowland Homestead 