Janet’s Perfect Carrot Cake

Janet’s Perfect Carrot Cake

Another recipe from my good friend Janet. This is a wonderfully moist, but not too heavy carrot cake - I sometimes add coffee to it for a change - it tastes good either way.

Ingredients

250g (3 medium sized) carrots - grated

280g caster sugar

200mls sunflower oil

3 eggs

200g plain flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

3 teaspoons cinnamon powder

120g chopped walnuts

Zest of 2 oranges (optional)

3 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water (optional)

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180°C.

2. Lightly grease a 20cm round cake tin with some butter.

3. Grate the carrots and keep them aside.

4. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl until thick, pale and creamy – this takes about 2 minutes with an electric whisk.

5. Add the oil to the eggs and sugar and whisk it in for about 1 minute.

6. Gently fold the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into the egg mixture with a large metal spoon – don’t over mix otherwise the batter will lose the air that was whisked in with the eggs and sugar. (If adding coffee or orange zest, add them at this stage).

7. Add the grated carrots and chopped walnuts and continue folding them in gently.

8. Pour it all into the greased baking tin and bake for 60 minutes. (Insert a knife into the well-risen and firm cake and it should come out clean and dry when the cake is ready).

9. Let the cake cool down before topping it with cream cheese icing.

Background Information

Janet gave me this recipe about 20 years ago – I still have it written down in her writing on a piece of “La Mama” headed paper (a shop in Cambridge in which she was doing a summer job). The recipe sat in my recipe folder all these years until last week when I decided to try it out; it turned out to be a very easy recipe - I can see myself making it again and again.

If you don’t like the idea of pieces of walnut in the cake, you could substitute ground almonds instead; or add a bit of extra flour if you want to skip the nuts completely.

The carrots add an air of wholesomeness and make one feel a little less guilty about eating cake!