a touch of Carrot Cake history…
To begin with – this week we celebrated our 6th anniversary of living in Ireland. And yet, I vividly remember all the excitement of exploring local cuisine, along with all local bakeries. My honest first impression was not great. I was very surprised that variety was just not there, and the bakery category was established predominantly by soda bread, scones, and, of course, carrot cake. It was all quite new and unfamiliar to my taste. While bread and scones found some similarities in my mind – carrot cake remained the one I just could not figure out. However, driven by my curiosity I found it very educative reading the history of carrot cake and an overview of cake evolution here. After that, I realized, that centuries ago people were replacing sugar with carrots, as it was (and still is) a cheap sweetness alternative.
Market offers
Looking at retail and boulangerie shelves these days, you will always find carrot cake proudly sitting there, richly covered with icing. I imagine it is after sugar became more affordable, bakers started to use frosting to add up to sweetness. Above all, I am not a fan of that thick layer of icing sugar (>60% of frosting) you find on top of cakes. But what frustrated me the most was the taste – it was either too sweet, too carroty, or had no taste at all. Some almost tasted earthy, moist, and oily. At some point I even gave up and decided that it was not my cup of tea, so to speak.
My journey with Carrot Cake
One day my wife told me – if you don’t like any of the sold options just bake one yourself. Therefore challenge has been accepted. I’ve asked my local friend (Fairytail Cake By Alice) to share the best recipe for carrot cake she had. I have to admit – it was a good one. My taste pallet is still quite Eastern European, so I decided to tweak the recipe a bit. In conclusion, I replaced the oil with butter, at the same time have added a bit more spices and orange peels. But the real caveat was the introduction of mango… And yes, you heard that right – grated mango was my choice alongside carrots. It is, indeed, a simple twist but brings a lot to the recipe at the end. By adding mango you get that extra sweetness as well as a hint of freshness and a slight tropical note. It also keeps texture moist and juicy and ….. YOU DO NOT NEED FROSTING unless you really like it :). So, are you ready to bring your carrot cake to a different level?
PS In addition, if you are up to new things today – check my Carrot Cake Cookies recipe as well.
Carrot Cake Recipe
Reimagining Carrot cake, by adding an unusual twist - sweet mango and candied orange. The classic recipe became even more YUMMM!
Ingredients
- 200 grams Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs (medium)
- 200 grams Butter (unsalted)
- 225 grams Plain Wheat Flour
- 3 grams Baking Soda
- 3 grams Baking Powder
- 2 grams Ground Cinnamon
- 3 grams Ground Ginger
- 2 grams Salt
- 45 grams Italian Mixed Peel
- 100 grams Grated Carrot
- 100 grams Grated Mango
- 30 grams Walnuts
- 20 grams Pecans
Instructions
- Mix flour with salt, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger, and cinnamon. This step allows getting easier distribution of flour in the final batter.
- In a separate bowl, start whisking eggs with sugar, until light foam. Best to use eggs at room temperature, so you are avoiding quick thickening of butter during the next stage.
- Melt your butter in the microwave, using heat resistant bowl. To make this easier - chop your butter into small pieces. I normally do it in 3 stages, each about 30s (800 w), and mix with a spatula in between.
- Now it is time to add butter into the bowl with eggs and sugar. Mix it well with a spatula until smooth, and then add your dry ingredients from step 1. Keep mixing until you get a smooth batter.
- The last step is to throw add-ins. Firstly, chop nuts. After that - grate mango and carrots. Best to use green mango so it easily could be grated. PS And don't forget to peel the skin off :).
- Mix gently until fully incorporated and transfer the final batter into the tin.
- Now, your cake is ready for bake. Place it in the preheated oven with no fan for 50-60 min at 160 °C/320 °F. Please, note, that you may need to change your baking time if your tin higher/lower. For this recipe, I used a 28 cm cake glass tin (11 inches). Use a wooden stick to check readiness - it should come out dry.
Notes
Let it cool down for 40min and serve with your beverage of choice.
