The first time I was ever offered a slice of carrot cake I refused. I like to think that I did it politely, but one’s own memory can be horribly biased, so without concrete evidence of the same, I am left to assume the best from my young self. You see, my teenage brain was immediately certain that no good thing could come from combining carrots and cake, and I never for a single moment entertained the possibility that I could be missing out on something heavenly. But I was missing out. Big time!
Fortunately, I grew out of being apprehensive about odd sounding combinations and have to concede that Carrot Cake has since become one of my all-time favourite cakes. Like the cupcake, it is a classic bake. This particular recipe is a constant at any of my tea parties.
I replaced the castor sugar called for in the original recipe with brown sugar and this simple substitution gives this Carrot Cake its deep golden brown colour which I just love. Without a doubt this is one of the moistest Carrot Cake recipes I have ever tried.
The Rhodes Pineapple Crush adds a wonderful sweetness to the cake, and the faint taste of cinnamon which lingers creates a combination that leaves you heady with delight. I spent a bit of time this week reading different Carrot Cake recipes in my book collection as well as on the internet and I was surprised to find that pineapple is not a usual ingredient in most. But for me it just wouldn’t be Carrot Cake without it. I would say the same about the cream cheese icing.
Serves 10 slices
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time 1hr30min plus cooling.
Ingredients
4 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup oil
½ cup reserved pineapple juice
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups grated carrots
½ cup chopped pecan nuts
1 can Rhodes Pineapple crush, drained, reserve ½ cup of the juice
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Line your cake tin bottom with baking paper and grease or spray the sides with non-stick spray.
- Beat eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Slowly beat in the oil and reserved pineapple juice.
- Sift all the dry ingredients together and gently fold into the mixture.
- Stir in the carrots, pecan nuts and pineapple crush.
- Bake in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely before icing.
Cream Cheese Icing
80g butter (white margarine is great if you want a super white icing)
175g tub of plain cream cheese
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
Fresh Lavender
- For the icing cream the butter till pale and creamy.
- Add the cream cheese, and beat for a minute.
- Add the sifted icing sugar mix to blend.
- Do not beat this icing too long! If you do it will go runny and never recover.
- Sandwich the two halves of the cake together with some of the icing.
- Spread the remaining icing evenly and neatly on the top of the cake.
- Sprinkle lavender flowers over the top of the icing, the glorious flavour of the lavender will infuse into the icing as it stand
