Carrot Cake

Recently I have become the designated baker of cakes for a few functions. I thank God. So far I’ve baked cakes for a bridal shower and around 3 birthdays and thanks to some whipping cream and strawberries I’ve been able to pull the whole look together. Now the thing with my cakes is that I have only been making chocolate banana cakes. So recently my friend Nzilani asked for a carrot cake, new challenge? Why not.

I had only eaten a carrot cake once before and it’s my brother who had baked it. I decided to first bake one and see how it turns out before I can make for one dear Nzilani. After a few searches on google I felt confident enough to embark on this new baking adventure. Whoop! Whoop!

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp ground nutmeg

1 tbsp baking soda

2/3 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla essence

3 cups finely grated carrots

2/3 crushed pineapple (juice drained)

1/2 cup sultanas/ raisins

As usual start by pre heating your oven at 350º F

Then grease and lightly dust your baking tin. I also put some piece of parchment paper.

the tin

This cake is pretty simple to make, the only tasking part being the part you grate the carrots and crush the pineapples.

Start by putting the flour,sugar,cinnamon,nutmeg and baking soda in a mixing bowl.

flour,sugar,cinnamon,nutmeg and baking soda

Mix all the dry ingredients then add the vegetable oil.

Oily..

Add the eggs and vanilla essence next.

egg-citing

The finely grated carrots.

too bright… blame it on the flash

I bet you can buy a can of crushed pineapple from the supermarket but if you wanna be frugal like me, just get around 2 pineapple slices, chop them finely then crush whilst passing through a strainer. Set aside the juice for a relaxing drink after the rigorous baking.

Anyway back to the cake, before that, I wanna thank hubby, he did the grating of the carrots and crushing of the pineapples all the while acting as the photographer. Thanks hun.

After mixing in the wet ingredients i.e oil and eggs into the dry ingredient mixture the batter will look a  bit thick. You will be tempted to add some water but do what I did and resist the urge, I’ll tell you the reason later.

Finally add in the carrots, sultanas and pineapples.

almost there 🙂

After mixing them in I realised that the batter become light, must be the moisture from the carrots and the pineapples. So need to add any more water.

Pour the batter onto your prepared baking tin.

the batter

Bake for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Carrot cake

Verdict:

Moist and tasty. I was very proud of the results. I’m definitely trying this again and again. Next I think I’ll make carrot cupcakes.

I’m yet to bake one for Nzilani since currently she’s not into sugar.

 

30 Comments

  1. Hello, I tried this out over the weekend, it was edible but i must have done something wrong. Let me ask, how come the recipe has no baking powder yet it uses all purpose flour? Thanx

     
  2. Woop! woop!! tried baking carrot cake too. It was just perfect!!! 🙂 :-). Used Almonds instead of Raisins/sultanas. Also used both baking soda and baking powder. I could do it all over again but reduce the amount of sugar since pineapples and carrots already have sugar.

     
  3. Hi. Thanks for all your fabulous recipes… I tried baking the carrot cake but it sunk fork went in and came out clean. What did i do wrong?

     
  4. Purposing to bake this today……..cant wait!
    Going to buy the pineapple….. never tried it with this.
    I know i can google this but i trust your answers.
    When do you use baking soda and not the powder?

     
    • Awesome.

      Both baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents and baking soda is generally used in baked goods that have an acidic element like buttermilk (mala) , something citrus to activate it.
      For baking powder,it has baking soda and an acidic element in it.
      You can substitute baking soda with baking powder but not vice versa

       
  5. So i managed to bake, it burnt on top. Googled and the reason might me high temp. My oven is a celcius not Farenheit..i convert 350F to 176, and thats what i used.

    What would be the other reason? Its cooked well inside.
    Other than that it was awesome…delicious…

     

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