Galileo; the Bionic Carrot cake
Mannix can rebuild him...
My issue with carrot cake is that it is seen as this
vaguely healthier alternative to an experience which
simply isn't about health...
A good slice of cake must always be accompanied by
that naughty tingle of indulgence. There should be a
guilty thrill sinking a fork into a slice of cake.
But carrot cake with its grated goodness and no-
cholesterol oil and wholesome nuts
and raisins...well it sometimes has all the
sanctimonious posturing of a televangelist.
And for what?
Nine times out of ten, the vegetable oil simply gives
you a damp, greasy and heavy slab. The spices
overtake any carrot flavour and you are left in no-
man's land; you didn't get a fruit cake and you didn't
get a sinfully rich cake. So let's see how I came up
with a recipe that I must admit tastes 'closer to fine'
Oil vs Butter: hands down, canola oil gives a moist
cake, but it can also give you a greasy finish. So I
compromised: half oil, half butter.
Sugar and spice: to keep it nice, I split the spices
and separated some of the flavours. I put cinnamon
and ginger into the cake, but kept the nutmeg, lemon
and orange zest out. I saved these flavours for the
cream cheese frosting. And I brought in my stand-by
secret ingredient: Golden Syrup. I have waxed
ecstatic over this product before, but in a carrot
cake it truly soars.
Golden Syrup is the love child of honey and
molasses. It has the texture and depth of flavour of
honey, but as a sugar cane derivative, it has a faint
molasses taste which bakes into the cake, giving it
a summertime echo of the pumpkin pies and
gingerbreads that you'll be baking in Fall and Winter.
It is widely available across the US; my standby
supplier is Cost Plus / World Markets.
But the best bit of this cake (other than sitting down
to a big helping) is how easy it is. Like Coco and most
of my other cakes, I whacked all of the ingredients
into the food processor, gave it a blitz and put it
straight into the baking pan.
Here you go:
pre-heat your oven to 400f. Spray some non-stick
cooking spray into a 8x11 pan, then line the bottom
with paper / parchment. Put the grater disc into your
food proccessor and feed 8oz/ 250g carrot chunks
down
the tube (about 2 good sized carrots; don't bother
peeling them, just top and tail them). Remove the
grater disc and insert the standard blade, and add all
of these ingredients in with the grated carrots: 1 2/3
cups self raising flour; 2 eggs; 1/2 cup golden syrup;
1 cup dark brown sugar; 2 tspns ground cinnamon;
1/2 tspn ground ginger; 1 1/2 tspns baking powder;
1/2 cup buttermilk; 1/2 cup canola oil; 1/2 cup soft
(not melted) butter (that's 1x 4oz stick / 125g);
pinch salt. Pulse for 20 seconds, scrape down the
sides with a spatula, pulse for another 20 seconds
then add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup of
raisins. Stir the nuts and fruit in with a spoon then
pour the batter into your pan and bake for about 40
minutes. Check at 30 mins, you might want to lower
the temp to 375f until the cake is cooked in the
centre.
This cake is pretty delicate straight from the oven,
so I usually let it cool a little in the pan before
turning it out onto a wire rack. It is fine to be made a
day ahead.
For the platter in the photos, I made three lots of the
batter; one for each layer of the birthday cake and
one for the cupcakes around the side. Kate, like some
of her guests, is allergic to nuts, so I made nut-free
cupcakes for them. Her daddy is quite nutty though,
so the big cake was choka-blok full of walnuts.
