Claire Clark's Carrot Cake

This cake can't really be described as bona fide Scandinavian, but then what really is? We now get carrot cake all over the globe and everyone adapts this beloved American tradition to their own tastes and locally available ingredients. I decided to test a recipe from Claire Clark's book 'Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts' (Absolute Press, 2007) Claire's the head of pastry at celebrated California restaurant The French Laundry and the book is a feast for confection-hungry eyes. Even if you don't care much for cake, have a look at her book, great recipes can be found therein for all manner of sweet things.

Anyway, Easter's come and gone. While most of Britain is seemingly defying the credit crunch by shopping like there's no tomorrow, my Dad and I spent the weekend with simpler, more frugal pursuits in mind. Long walks in the country, endless episodes of 'Seinfeld,' reading a few good books - couldn't have asked for a more relaxed weekend. Having had my 89-year old uncle over for the requisite Easter Sunday luncheon we're still feasting on leftovers of roast leg of lamb, roast potatoes, caramelised parsnips and broccoli. Leftover lamb on fresh spelt bread (yes I baked another one) for lunch yesterday was a treat - delicious with some mango chutney, beetroot and German gherkin. Easter pudding consisted of gently poached rhubarb, simmered in fresh blood orange juice and zest, a splash of vanilla and grand marnier, though we managed to demolish this with aplomb on Sunday so no leftover rhubarb pud.

Who said I don't take care of the men in my life ;-)

Anyway, back to the cake. I love the fact that Claire uses wholemeal flour in her recipe, something I'm converting to (as well as gluten-free flour for variation) - the taste of wholemeal is so good anyway, and combined with all that carrot, coconut, vanilla and sugar you won't know the difference. If you're looking for a slightly lighter texture sift the wholemeal to remove some of the bran...the brown sugar gives a hint of sweetness without making the cake cloying, and also keeps it moist for a few days. Will definitely be making this one again.

Ingredients:

• 250g wholemeal flour
• 25g baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 125g desiccated coconut
• 5 medium eggs
• 250g muscovado brown sugar (I used light brown as that's what I had...)
• 185g vegetable oil
• 500g carrots
• 125g raisins (soaked for 10 minutes)
• 1/2 tsp salt (recipe doesn't call for it, but have added it anyway)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium bowl. Stir in the coconut. 

Using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs, sugar and oil together til the mixture becomes pale and doubles in volume (a large bowl will be needed for this)

Gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, and then finally fold in the carrots and raisins.

Bake 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool before icing with cream cheese frosting (see the other carrot cake recipe on this blog for recipe) and sprinkle with coconut and crushed pistachios.

A Carrot Cake...for metric fans

What a start to October - after September's abominable baking record (mitigating circumstances aside) it's good to be whisking and folding again. The first day of this new month was inaugurated with a carrot cake, but not a mundane carrot cake - this is a recipe my Mother gave me. Which she was given at a supermarket promotion. For Philadelphia cream cheese. So we call this Philadelphia carrot cake! I promise there's no link with the makers of this most processed of cream cheese, but the weird thing is this: the icing never quite tastes the same with ersatz cream cheese (think fromage frais, quark or even the perennially fashionable creme fraiche) - the texture and flavour are best when made with this old American favourite...but it was given to my Mother while we lived in Norway, and here's the catch: all the ingredients are measured in decilitres, not the more common grams. So get a measuring jug out and make this cake - it's lighter and less stringy than traditional carrot cakes, with a good hit of cinnamon and lots of yummy carrot.

Ingredients:

Cake

• 5 dl self-raising flour 
• 3 dl caster sugar
• 1 dl melted butter
• 4 eggs
• 6 dl grated carrot
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• you can also add raisins/walnuts, but I didn't.

Icing:

• Philadelphia cream cheese (no cheating with the low-fat version!!)
• 125g softened butter
• a small handful of icing sugar (do this according to taste, I don't like it too sweet)
• generous splash of vanilla extract - but not the whole bottle

First, lightly oil a long, rectangular baking pan. Preheat oven to 180ºC

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until light and mousse-like (ca. 8-10 mins)

In a separate bowl, sieve all your dry ingredients except the grated carrot. 

When the eggs are light and fluffy, add your flour, give it a few folds with a large metal spoon, then add the carrot and butter. Fold through with the spoon, careful not to overdo it though as this will knock all the air out...

Once the mix looks even, plop it in the baking pan and place on the middle shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes. 

The icing? Easy - just place the butter in a mixing bowl, whisk up so it looks soft and creamy, then add your cream cheese in 3-4 increments. Finally add the sugar and vanilla and whisk again...this can also be used on other cakes such as banana cake or (controversially) chocolate cake. I reckon carrot cake is still king...