Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

We’re going back to the classics, baby.

Reading about food and recipes have become part of my daily routine, and in the past few months, I’ve done quite a bit of scrolling through the huge database of recipes called the Internet.

And trust me, the number of dessert recipes with exotic-sounding names can be pretty intimidating sometimes.

New inventions, exotic names.

Whoopie pies, cake-pops, cake balls and their likes are among the many cool-sounding, new types of recipes that are spreading like a wild forest fire all across the food blogosphere.

Never heard of them? Don’t worry, I also only recently found out these type of desserts existed.

There are ever-changing latest foods to experiment with, depending on the current season and trend. And mind you, these inventions are wonderful, mind-blowing, orgasmic recipes that can make you feel like you’re in heaven, just by looking at their pictures and swooning at your computer screen, wishing you could reach into it and take a bite.

But sometimes, classic recipes are what we miss.

Classic dessert recipes which invoke the nostalgia that crashes over us as we savor a mouthful of homemade goodness, bringing us back to our roots and childhood.

Classic desserts whose very smells open up a memory vault, releasing years of forgotten emotions and memories, as we tumble back in time, to a space which is called home and belonging.

Classic cakes which actually look like cakes (and not cookies, balls or lollipops), spread over and laden with thick, generous helpings of sweet, decadent cream cheese.

Oooohhh yes, you know where we’re heading.

Classic cakes which are baked in a pan, golden brown from the oven’s heat, brimming and stuffed full with nuts, freshly-shredded carrots, and ground cinnamon.

Carrot cake, baby.

Classic Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting..

The classic carrot cake with cream cheese frosting,
topped with addictive, brown walnuts.

I know, you need at least a few seconds to let your mind wander through the memories which come with carrot cake.

Beautiful classic carrot cake

We’ve all had our experiences with carrot cake.

Tea time..

The cake with the vegetable in it.

The orange vegetable which should not be named, in fact. The vegetable which people associate with dieting, which is good for eyesight and is full of Vitamin A.

Maybe the first time you ate carrot cake your mum refused to tell you what was inside, because if you’d known it was made with bright orange carrots, you might have changed your mind. Or maybe hearing the name “carrot cake” you had thought it was a savory carrot pie whose author got his food nouns mixed up.

The classic carrot cake

Carrots + Cake = Carrot Cake

Who would have thought that carrots and cake could go so well together?

Carrot cake + Coffee = Perfect afternoon tea

Plus, I bet I know why you tried it in the first place –
the decadent frosting.

It was the tempting cream cheese frosting sitting right above the carrot cake, beckoning and challenging you to try it. The cream-colored frosting upon which the patterns of the spatula used to spread it are printed like waves in the ocean, washing you in with the tide.

Decadent frosting, dripping down the carrot cake

CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING (Makes 1 large cake)
Inspired by my friend Suzy’s recipe and a recipe sent by Maria, a friend from my gym

Ingredients:

1) 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2) 1 cup vegetable oil
3) 3 eggs
4) 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour (adding more flour if batter if too liquid)
5) 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (or store-bought cinnamon powder)
6) 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
7) 3 cups of shredded carrots (around 5 medium or 4 large carrots)
8) 1 cup roughly chopped walnuts + a handful more for decoration
9) 400g of cream cheese
10) 100g of butter
11) 200g of icing sugar
12) 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Steps:

1) Pre-heat oven to 180 deg celcius
2) Peel and shred carrots
3) Chop walnuts into small pieces
4) Mix sugar, oil and eggs in a mixing bowl
5) Sift in self-raising flour and mix well until a homogeneous texture is reached
6) Add in cinnamon powder and vanilla essence and mix well
7) Add in shredded carrots and chopped walnuts, mixing so they are evenly spread throughout
8) Pour the cake batter into a greased and floured baking pan
9) Bake at 180 deg celcius for around 40 -45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted
10) Mix cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until both ingredients are well integrated
11) Add in vanilla essence and mix well
12) Sift in icing sugar, mixing until you get a homogeneous texture
13) Chill cream cheese frosting in the fridge for at least 1 hour
14) After carrot cake has cooled and cream cheese frosting has chilled, spread frosting all over carrot cake
15) Decorate cake with walnuts if you wish (optional)

Mix sugar, eggs and vegetable oil:

To get this mixture:

Sift in flour and mix till homogeneous texture achieved:

Add in cinnamon powder and vanilla essence and mix well:

Add in shredded carrots and chopped walnuts, mixing so they are evenly spread throughout:

Pour the cake batter into a greased and floured baking pan:

Mix cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until both ingredients are well integrated:

Sift in icing sugar:

Mixing until you get a homogeneous texture:

After carrot cake has cooled and cream cheese frosting has chilled, spread frosting all over carrot cake:

Beautiful carrot cake: