If you’ve been reading my past entries on recipes, the reason why I bake what I bake is mainly because of surplus of a particular ingredient. Well this time, it’s carrots! My mom loves carrot cake. When I was younger, she will order carrot cake and I would be puzzled why she would order a cake with such a weird ingredient. Vegetable in a cake? “Yuck” was the description in my young mind. To be fair though, the carrot cake she buys was delicious but yet I just couldn’t see past the theory that vegetables are not for desserts. Hence with that kind of upbringing, I made this cake solely for my mom surprising myself that I will find it delicious after all.

CARROT CAKE

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
  4. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake and sprinkle with grated carrot.

Chef’s note:

The cake turned out excellent despite overcooked sides and top. I left it too long in the oven. So I suggest bake it for 40 minutes and turn off the oven however leave the cake inside the oven to bake more for 5 minutes. Take it out of the oven to cool. The taste is just right – it was not too sweet. I could have put more carrots because I think it wasn’t carrot-y enough for me. Carrots are difficult to shred so allot ample time to shred it. 3 big sized carrots make for 3 cups. Applesauce will make the cake moister. I used the Gerber applesauce because I didn’t need much. Increase the applesauce if you want a moister cake. Walnuts can be an alternative for expensive pecan. Aside from nuts, I believe chocolate chips can be incorporated into the batter to provide sweetness and texture to the cake. Frosting was a mistake because the frosting is too sweet for my taste. So it’s up to you if you want to put icing on top. Sprinkle nuts instead of grated carrot.

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