Amazing Moist Carrot Cake
The carrot cake that can be seen seductively in food photos today once looked very different, and it must have come a long way before it became known throughout the world. According to culinary historians, carrot pudding, the presumed ancestor of carrot cake, was a popular dish in medieval Europe. According to other historical data, however, the carrot is first and foremost an ancient, traditional food of Arabic cuisine. According to records, the carrot itself was first brought to America by Europeans and gradually became more and more popular there.
The story of the birth of carrot cake
The forerunner of carrot cake, carrot pudding, is an achievement of the Middle Ages: the word cake was originally coined by the Vikings in reference to the old Scandinavian word “kaka”. However, many historians believe that cake was also invented in the Middle Ages, when sugar and other sweets were in short supply. (Carrots, for instance, were used in place of celery.) The earliest documented carrot cake recipe was found in a French cookbook that was published in 1827, yet it is still unclear who prepared the first carrot cake ever.
Carrot pudding (source: https://kosherbygloria.com)
It was considered the dessert of the people, but it was actually a luxury
It’s noteworthy to note that there was a period when most people believed that carrot pudding was accessible to everyone throughout the Middle Ages. Historian Robert Moss, however, asserts that this is untrue. Due to a lack of ingredients at the time, carrot pudding was reserved for the wealthy. Carrots were cooked by steaming or boiling them over a low heat, mashing them to release their natural sugars, seasoning them, and then thickening them with flour and eggs.
Bringing the carrot cake up to date
The development of ovens allowed for the substitution of more advanced techniques for steaming and cooking, resulting in a lighter cake with more flour and oil added. It’s also noteworthy that an Indian dessert called gajar halwah, which is made from caramelized shredded carrots with sugar, spices, and occasionally dried fruit and nuts, may be a distant descendant of the medieval carrot pudding, according to Robert Moss. It’s even said that George Washington frequently offered carrot cake for dessert during get-togethers. Carrot cake was seen as an exotic German treat by American confectioners at the start of the twentieth century.
When did it start to gain popularity in the US?
It was discovered in 1975 by Pillsbury Baking Company workers abroad that carrots, which are high in vitamins, could also be baked into cakes. (As was previously indicated, early nineteenth-century immigrants from Europe introduced carrots to the United States.) It’s also not one of the healthiest sweets because of its high fat and sugar content, even if carrot is the major component in classic carrot cake. Depending on the size of the slice, a cake might have an average of 300–600 calories.
Ingredients:
- 300 g carrots
- 4 eggs
- 200ml vegetable oil
- 12g baking powder
- 1 tbsp of vanilla sugar
- peel of 1 lemon and 1 orange
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon (to taste a little ground clove)
- 250 g sugar
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 100 g walnuts
- 50 g raisins
- pinch of salt
- For the glaze: 250 g mascarpone, 50 g powdered sugar
Steps:
- Beat the eggs well with the sugar and vanilla sugar (or extract).
- Add the oil in several small portions and stir in.
- Sift in the flour with the baking powder and spices (salt, cinnamon and cloves to taste). Stir the mixture well. MIx in the finely chopped walnuts, grated lemon and orange zest and chopped raisins too.
- Finely grate the carrots and mix into the mixture. The mixture should be moist and homogeneous. Pour into a baking tray lined with baking paper or a buttered 9-10 inch (~25 cm) cake tin. Shake a little and bake at 340°F (170°C) for 60 minutes. Leave to cool completely.
- Whip the mascarpone with the powdered sugar and spread this glaze over the cake with a spatula.
- Cut and enjoy your carrot cake!
Watch our video about this recipe: