CARROT CAKE
🌱🥕 Are you a weekend baker? Grandma Sita’s delicious plant-based carrot cake is quick and easy to make from the basic ingredients you always have in your kitchen. The combination of freshly grated carrots with a mixture of species is the true essence of the tasty flavour of this cake.
😋🍰 This carrot cake is so moist and tasty. Although, a thin glaze may be applied after baking. For this occasion, a basic glaze was made containing icing sugar, water, and lemon juice. Just grab some carrots – ready, set, and bake!
- INGREDIENTS
DRY
1 cup grated carrots
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unrefined cane sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
WET
1/2 cup oat drink (any non-dairy milk)
1/4 cup berry jam (any fruit jam)
3 tablespoons veggie oil (any neutral flavoured)
- METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 180 º C. Oil and line the base and sides of a bread pan or square cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl: grated carrots, flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, unrefined cane sugar, and a pinch of salt until well-mixed. Add chopped walnuts and mix them well with a wooden spoon.
3. Combine wet ingredients in a bowl: fruit jam, veggie oil, and oat drink until well mixed.
4. Pour the wet mix into the dry bowl. Mix everything slowly with a wooden spoon.
5. Pour the mix into the bread pan. Bake it for around 40 minutes or until browned. Don’t open the oven, you can always leave the cake in the oven for a few more minutes.
6. Remove the bread pan from the oven. Leave to cool for a while. Carefully, peel off the paper and cool a bit on a wire rack.
7. Serve a piece of cake as a dessert, an afternoon tea, or a morning breakfast. Bon appetite!
👵💚 Grandma Sita’s tips:
*If some pieces of cake are left, no problem, they can be frozen. Wrap each cake slice in freezer paper or put slices together in a freezer container. Transfer slices of cake from the freezer to the refrigerator a day ahead of serving, although cake generally thaws within 8 hours if you are pressed for time.
*Raw carrots, when properly stored will usually stay fresh for around 3 to 4 weeks in the fridge. The best way to keep them fresh is by storing them inside an airtight bag or container in the crisper of your fridge.
The origins of carrot cake are disputed. Many food historians believe carrot cake originated from such carrot puddings eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages. This evolution is said to have originated during the Middle Ages when sugar and sweeteners were expensive for most individuals and often hard to find, so many people used carrots as a substitute for sugar. The popularity of carrot cake was revived in the United Kingdom because of rationing during the Second World War.
♻️🌎 Let’s unite to raise awareness of this global crisis and make small but significant changes at home in how we care for our food. All of us can act at home to reduce our waste and every single one counts. So what if you could do one thing to reduce food waste in your kitchen? Bake, not waste!