Carrot cake as we know it today is believed to be from Persia, however using carrots in a cake was no unusual practice. Around the 15th century, sugar was scarce and expensive. Not many people could afford to buy and much less use large amounts of sugar. That is when carrots came in. The roots have a sweetness to them that could replace the sugar in the cake. Of course, nowadays we don’t have to rely on the sweetness of the root, but it still adds a nice flavour to the cake.
Ingredients
Cake base:
- 400g Carrots
- 85g Crunchy Almonds
- 100g Flaked Almonds
- 200g Flour
- 1tsp Baking Powder
- 1 pinch Salt
- 4 Eggs
- 250g Sugar
- 100ml Sunflower Oil
- 5Tbsp Orange Juice
- Butter for greasing
Topping and decoration:
- 200g Powdered Sugar
- 5 Tbsp Orange Juice
- 60g Fondant
- Yellow, Red and Blue Food colouring
Instructions
- Wash the carrots, cut their ends and grate them.
- Add the almonds to the carrots.
- Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour.
- Pour the flour into the carrot almond mixture and stir well until the carrots are well coated.
- Set the mixture aside and preheat the oven to 160ºC.
- Separate the egg yolk from the whites.
- Mix the oil, juice and sugar into the egg yolks.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff.
- Add the egg yolk mixture to the carrots stir well.
- Fold in the egg whites.
- Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
- Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Decoration and Topping
- While the cake is in the oven, prepare the decoration.
- Separate 40g of fondant from the 60g and add yellow and red until obtaining the desired orange colour.
- Add blue and yellow to the remaining 20g. Mix well until the fondant is the correct green colour.
- Roll out the fondant. Fold the orange one in half.
- Cut six pieces off the orange fondant.
- Roll out the green fondant and cut thin strips from it.
- Cut triangles into the green fondant and roll it up.
- Shape the orange fondant into little carrots and cut thin lines into them.
- Wet the base of the leaves and the top of the carrots and put them together. (notes)
- Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool.
- Mix the juice into the powdered sugar until well integrated.
- Let the mixture thicken for a bit before pouring it over the cake.
- Place the six carrots on the cake distributed evenly.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Fondant: If the fondant gets too sticky when shaping it, wet it with a bit of water and sprinkle some powdered sugar.
