Carrot cake is not only one of my favourite cakes; it
is also the one cake that seems to please my brother. So when I wanted to bake
him a cake for his birthday, there was only one option. To keep things
interesting for me as well, I found a carrot cake recipe I hadn’t tried before.
Since it is another Hummingbird Bakery recipe, I was confident enough to make
it for the big day. This carrot cake has fresh root ginger in it, and you can
really taste the difference...
As we had the cake for dessert, I decided not to ice
it all over. I spread a cream cheese lemon icing between the layers and some on
top of the cake.
The recipe is for a 4 layer cake. I decided to make 2
cakes. The first one was eaten by the family. And the second will be served at
my brother’s work tomorrow. If that doesn’t tell me he liked it…
Carrot and
ginger cake
Ingredients
cake
450
g peeled and finely grated carrots
2 tbsp peeled and grated root ginger
80 ml buttermilk
3 large eggs
½ tsp
vanilla extract
350 ml
vegetable oil
420
g caster sugar (I used soft brown
sugar)
500 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
80
g pecans, chopped (I used walnuts)
Preparations
Preheat the oven to 180° and line the 4 sandwich tins
with baking parchment.
Using a handheld electric whisk or a freestanding
electric mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the carrots, root
ginger, buttermilk, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and sugar until all the
ingredients are well combined.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of
soda, salt and ground spices, then slowly beat this into the egg and carrot
mixture, adding the dry ingredients in three batches. Mix well after each
addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl to pick to pick up any
ingredients that may have got stuck there. Stir in the chopped pecans and mix
the cake batter until it is smooth and even.
Divide the batter between the four prepared sandwich
tins and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the top of each sponge
bounces back when lightly pressed. Allow the cakes to cool completely, on a
wire rack while you make the frosting.
Besides the carrot cake, there were some savoury minicupcakes and a leak-goat cheese pie: