Carrot Cake

 Cake pan size: 15cm/ 6inch

✎ Ingredients ☞ For the cake carrots 250g, peeled egg 2, at room temperature granulated sugar 112g vegetable oil 150ml (133g) all-purpose flour 150g ground cinnamon 1.3g (1/2 tsp) baking powder 2g (1/2 tsp) baking soda 1.5g (1/4 tsp) salt 1.6g (1/4 tsp) walnuts 75g ☞ For the icing cream cheese 125g, at room temperature unsalted butter 62g, at room temperature vanilla extract 2g (¼ tsp) powdered sugar 30g ✎ Intructions 1. Preheat the oven to 170˚C 2. Butter the cake pan and line its base with a parchment paper. 3. Roughly chop the walnuts and then place them into the food processor, use the pulse function so you don’t end up with walnut paste. 4. Peel the carrots and remove the top and bottom. Cut into small chunks. Place the carrot chunks into the food processor, finely grated. Or grate the carrots on the small holes of grater. Set aside. 5. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt together, mix well. 6. Beat the eggs and sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes with an electric hand mixer, until fluffy and a bit of light. 7. Gradually pour in the oil little by little while beating constantly until fully combined. 8. Add the carrots and fold evenly by spatula, then add the dry ingredients into the mixture until just to incorporate. Finally fold in the walnuts. 9. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 45~50 minutes or until a knife or sticker inserted in the center comes out clean. 10. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan, once the pan is cool to the touch, remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely on the rack. 11. Make the icing. Beat the butter with vanilla extract, till smooth, then add the cream cheese and beat for a few minutes till the mixture is well combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix well. 12. When the cake is cold, ice the top with the icing, it can be as smooth or rough as you like.

Yields: 16 servings

Ingredients for carrot cake:

• 200 g grated carrot
• 100 g ground walnut
• 4 eggs (grade A/size: L)
• 3/4 tsp fine salt
• 200 g soft brown sugar
• 240 g cake flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 250 g corn oil (or other vegetable oil)
• grated lemon zest of 2 lemons

Ingredient for cream cheese frosting:

• 180 g cream cheese (room temperature)
• 90 g butter (salted, softened)
• 80 g icing sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

1 Grease and line 9-inch (23-cm) square baking pan with non-stick baking paper.

2 Finely grate carrot, measure out 200 g of grated carrot. (Reminder:You may use manual fine grater to grate the carrot too.)

3 Chop walnut until fine with food processor. (Reminder: You may also use store-bought ground walnut.)

4 Add a tray of water (about 2 cups) in the oven, then preheat oven to 160°C/320°F.

5 Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and ground cinnamon, mix well.

6 Whisk together eggs, salt and soft brown sugar, sift in flour mixture, mix well. Add in corn oil, mix well. Add in grated carrot, ground walnut and grated lemon zest, mix well.

7 Pour batter into lined baking pan.

8 Bake in the preheated oven at 160°C/320°F for 45 minutes, then increase to 180°C/355°F and bake for another 15 minutes, or until completely cooked.

9 Unmould the cake, set aside to cool completely on wire rack (at least 6″ from countertop).

10 For cream cheese frosting:Combine cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and lemon juice, beat over medium speed until light and fluffy.

11 Trim the sides and level the top of the cake, spread cream cheese frosting on top of the cake evenly with icing spatula.

12 Cut cake into 16 pieces. (For storage: Put sliced cakes in container and keep refrigerated.)