Carrot and ginger cake

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: