Cracker carrot cake
A carrot cake, smothered in cream-cheese icing is always demanded of Horsham Down’s Terene Parker when she gets together with friends.
The recipe, says Terene, comes from her dear nana. And here she shares nana’s special recipe. A dab hand with a camera, Terene took the photographs to go with it, as well.
We were so impressed we had to make it here at N8N, and can vouch for it being an absolute cracker of a cake. It didn’t last long.
Carrots have been used in sweet cakes since medieval times, when sugar was expensive and elusive. Carrots were the answer, and sweetened things up a tad. They are also nice sliced into rings, popped in a saucepan with butter and a generous pinch of dried basil, a touch of seasoning, and cooked till soft. But it really takes a cake to bring out the best in this vegetable…
1 cup plain flour
1 cup whole meal flour
2 cups raw sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups grated carrot
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp baking soda
1 pkt glazed peel
¼ tsp salt
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Line the bottom of a cake tin.
Sift dry ingredients, except baking soda, into a large bowl.
In a separate jug, add together the oil and eggs. Stir well and add the carrot and peel.
Add this to the flour, mix together well with a wooden spoon.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little hot water – just a little bit – stir, and add this to the mixture.
Pour into cake tin and cook for about 45 to 55 minutes. Cool, then ice with cream cheeses icing, and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and diced apricots.
Enjoy!
