Enter the great carrot cake taste- testing competition. I think they’re both fabulous, but with five voters in our household, there was a 3:2 preference for the first recipe, which I modified from a taste.com recipe years ago. I switch between both recipes, but go ahead and make up your own mind (or do what I do and cook whichever recipe you have all the ingredients for at the time).
Carrot cake with pineapple
2/3 cup vegie oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
124g (½ cup) crushed pineapple, drained*
80g (2/3 cup) chopped walnuts
or pecans, plus extra for decorating
1 1/3 cups grated carrot
(approximately 2 carrots)
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1¼ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Grease the sides and base of a 20cm round cake pan. Stir oil, eggs, vanilla, pineapple, nuts, carrot and sugar together in a large bowl. Sift in flour, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda. Mix together. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean). Cover cake with a clean tea towel and allow to cool in pan. When cake has cooled, spread top and sides with cream cheese icing (see following page) and sprinkle with extra nuts.
TIP I’ve substituted the pineapple for one mashed ripe banana and it works just fine too.
Carrot cake v2
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sultanas
1½ cups of grated carrots
(approximately 2 large carrots)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup vegie oil
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Grease the sides and base of a 20cm round cake pan. Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside. Add sultanas, carrots and sugar. Mix well. Beat eggs and oil together with fork then add to the mix. Bake for 55-75 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Cream-cheese icing
60g cream cheese, softened
30g butter, softened
2 teaspoons lemon juice
(fresh is best if you have it)
180g icing sugar sifted
Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter and lemon juice until light and fluffy. Gradually add sifted icing sugar and beat together until icing is smooth.
This recipe is originally found in Maya Linnell‘s artist profile including a selection of her go-to recipes, read more here.
