I was racking my brains to find the location for a recipe for Carrot Cake I had saved somewhere. It has been sitting in my file notes for I think, several years.
Last week, I made it. The M.o.t.h. loves Carrot cakes as he figures as it is a vegetable, it is all healthy and he can have a larger helping! Although it doesn’t work like that, at least he is getting a bit more fibre in his diet!
The added bonus of cardamon gives it an aromatic hint of something more. Something a little Nordic.
Research online tells me that this recipe is adapted from the bakery of the iconic Rosendal trädgården (a horticultural garden in front of Rosendal Palace) in Stockholm.
I don’t ever ice my cakes, they are sweet enough, already – for me. And cake icing and a sub tropical climate doesn’t make a good marriage. It is melts everywhere and is so messy.
If you do want to ice the cake the cream cheese icing works really well and provides a slightly savoury and sweet combination, so popular in Scandinavian cuisine.
Carrot and Cardamon Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 225 ml sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
- 310 g caster sugar
- 170 g grated carrot
- 3 eggs
- 240 g plain flour
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 40 g chopped walnuts
Icing
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 200 g cream cheese
- 180 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Cook’s notes (Source: sbs.com.au)
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC – (390º F) bit lower if using a fan-forced oven.
- Beat the oil and sugar together in a large mixing bowl for 5 minutes, until light yellowish white.
- Keep beating while you add the carrot and the eggs, one at a time.
- Add the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt. Mix for a few minutes
- Stir in the walnuts with a spatula.
- Using a greased 23 cm round cake tin or an 11 x 6 ” loaf pan, bake in the oven for 30–35 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in its tin for 10 minutes then turn out. If using the loaf pan, you might have enough over to make a smaller friand loaf as well – (around 5″x3″) – good to pop in the freezer if needed later.
To make the icing by beating together all the ingredients until smooth.
Recipe originally from The New Nordic by Simon Bajada
Linking to the Trent’s Weekly Smile and Curl’s and Skirls Tea Party
A Home by the Sea 
I like the look of this recipe. Most carrot cakes here have raisins in them and my daughter won’t eat them. My last husband LOVED carrot cake too. I just don’t like the cream cheese frosting which I always toss because it’s too sweet. I’m keeping the recipe for the cold weather. Too hot to bake right now.
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Cakes are always better with a hot cuppa in winter, Marlene. This one sounds like it is more suitable for your daughter. I like raisins, but they cause me to have tinnitus due to the salicylates, so I am pretty glad this recipe didn’t have them. Our carrot cakes generally don’t though. I used to make a variety of carrot cake with pineapple as an ingredient along with carrot. It was sweeter and moisr than this one, but that is the only one that tasted better with cream cheese frosting. The rest – well I prefer without any icing really. I hope you like it when you make it in the cooler weather.
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Oh wow! Carrot cake with pineapple! Now, that sounds up my alley. I might even be tempted to add coconut. I think I’m going a bit nuts anyway. If my AC gets fixed, I might have to give that some thought. 🙂 Stay well.
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Hehe. If you are going ‘nuts’ in the heat, the carrot and pineapple cake also has walnuts! Then you can really go nuts! Lol! Coconut would be a really nice addition too. I shall post a recipe in a few weeks and hopefully the weather then will have cooled down. Towels soaked in cold water hung in front of a fan can help when AC is not available.
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This sounds and looks amazing! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
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I am sure you will like it. Do let me know.
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I think you are wise not to ice your cakes Amanda, you are right, they are definitely sweet enough without the icing. I love the sound of cardamom in this, next to cinnamon, cardamom is my favourite spice.
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Do you just use cardamon in cakes, Chris?
And how are the wordpress issues going?
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I use a lot f cardamom in curries, and I used to make an Indian sweet with a lot of cardamom in it. I can’t say I’ve used it in cakes though, but I’m sure it’ll be delicious. I’ll try it one day. I think Word Press is now sorted – thank goodness. Pleased to say it was a glitch – I kept thinking I was doing something wrong.
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That is a relief. I am so pleased that we can continue to enjoy your writing! And that you finally got an answer.
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