Carrot cake

I was talking to Athu (my nephew) some random day in December when I was telling him how much I miss him and how I would love for him to come here and explore somethings he has never seen/ done before. Casually I asked him to pass the phone to my sil and asked her if she, amma and Athu would consider travelling to Dubai. I swear she had ZERO hesitation and said oh yes, let’s see if we can work that out. Passed the phone to amma and just like I thought she had no problem (worry yes, problem no) as long as she could come & go with Priyanka. And that was literally it. We started planning the dates of travel etc, figured mom’s passport was expiring in a few months and so was Pri’s. So they actually went through the pains of renewing the passports (they live in a new state every year or so. So the address verification can get tricky). As soon as their passports came, the visas and tickets got done. Right next day, UK announced the new strain of Covid-19 and the follwing day UK announced their lock down :). We were a little perturbed and was not sure if it made sense to travel, whether they would be able to travel. Luckily they were able to fly in and so far things have been ok. The best thing in this whole plan is that my sil knew she was not going to be with my brother during her b’day and she still decided to come and spend time with us! I am so in awe of the last point more than anything else. So it was no surprise I wanted to make her birthday special in my own way and so cooked up a feast of some of her favourite things to eat :). We ate well and took the kids out early evening for some outdoor kiddy activities and safe to say, we had a quite but nice b’day :). My heart is filled with happiness to see my 2 favourite boys spending time with each other and ofcourse all of us spending time with each other.

Carrot cake is something that could be had as a simple side to chai or fancied with frosting for a celebration. Since I was making carrot cake for a celeb, I frosted and boy I am happy I did that cos the b’day girl loved the frosting :D. My son happily ate the non frosted portions meanwhile :D. Overall a decent win I guess. This cake is easy to make and is something you could give your kid as a snack in the evening or in his/ her snack box. The cake is super easy to make and very basic. So even if you are new to baking, this is an easy and perfect recipe to try out.

Want to document a few of my favourite pics of her & the boys this trip!

Print

Carrot cake

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

 

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: International

Servings: 7 inch cake

Ingredients

Wet ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 flax eggs 1 tbsp flax seed powder + 3 tbsp water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil/ virgin coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1.5 cups grated carrot

Dry Ingredients

• 1.25 cups all purpose flour/ whole wheat flour I did 1/2 APF & 1/2 WWF
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder add less if you don't like the taste of cinnamon powder much
• 1.25 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup walnuts optional

Cream cheese frosting (optional)

• 4 nos cream cheese cubes room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar/ powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• a pinch salt

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix together 2T flaxseed powder & 6T water. Set it aside for it to coagulate/ thicken for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, grate your carrot if you haven't, roughly chop walnuts if using. Set it aside.

3. After 10 mins, pour the flax eggs into a wide bowl and add 3/4c sugar. Whisk well.

4. Then add 1/2c oil, 1t vanilla essence and whisk.

5. Also add 1.5c grated carrot, 1/4c roughly chopped walnuts (if using) and mix everything together.

6. Now add all the dry ingredients – 1.25c flour, 1t cinnamon powder, 1.25t baking soda, 3/4t baking powder.

7. Mix everything well using a spatula. Make sure to have no lumps. The batter will be thick which is fine.

8. Pour the mixture into a greased 7 inch cake pan or bread pan.

9. If you are not going to frost, then top the cake with 1/4c roughly chopped walnuts (if using)

10. Bake in a preheated oven at 200c for 30-35 mins.

11. Keep an eye on the last 10 mins to make sure the cake doesn't burn/ over bake. Use a toothpick to prick the center of the cake to check if the cake is done. If the pick comes out clean, then the cake is done.

12. Once the cake is done baking, take it out of the oven and keep it out in order for it to cool down.

13. Once the cake completely cools down, remove it out of the cake pan.

14. You could slice the cake and dig in as is or you could frost your cake for an extra oomph.

Cream cheese frosting (optional)

1. In a medium size bowl, add 4 cubes of room temp cream cheese, 1/4c confectioners/ powdered sugar, 1/2t vanilla essence, a pinch salt and whisk everything together.

2. Spread this frosting evenly on to the cake.

3. Finally just randomly top/ decorate with 1/4c roughly chopped walnuts.

4. Slice & dig in! This is just perfect with a cuppa chai!

Recipe Notes

1. I do not pur walnuts if I plan to send the cake to school (no nut policy in most schools). 
2. The cream cheese frosting is optional. You can skip it. I personally preferred it without it (since I found the cake way too sweet with chai) but my sil loved it with the cream cheese (along with chai :D). 
3. You can use 2 regular eggs in place of flax eggs. 
4. I just used a regular whisk and did quick whisks. Nothing heavy on hand and so this recipe is perfect for a lazy bake. 
5. Since I made this cake for my sil’s b’day I used a round cake pan. You could use a load/ bread pan instead. 
6. You could use brown sugar instead of white and even coconut sugar for a healthier alternative. 

Stepwise pictures