I believe that on some days you can totally indulge, especially if its your friend’s birthday. And what better gift can you arrange for a sweet friend than a rustic home-made cake!
I am crazy about baking and loved watching my mother bake an awesomely aromatic, soft and fluffy tea cake in a pressure cook. After marriage, I tried once or twice to bake a cake, however, it always ended in disasters; sometimes, the batter is too runny and sometimes the cake is burnt etc etc. But after a lot of trial and error, I somehow got the idea, and now try my hands at baking any type cakes, be it chocolate, vanilla, coffee, banana, and so on and so forth.
For this particular cake, however, I tried, for the first time, icing a cake. So, the icing design is, well, not a sight to behold (bear with me on this one and I promise I will improve). But the cake tastes so good; moreover, its home-made with good quality ingredients and without the use of extreme amounts of butter or sugar. Its my tried and tested Carrot cake recipe, and you can never go wrong with it, whether you want to do icing or just enjoy it as is.
Here, I have used a six inch diameter cake tin to make two separate carrot cakes. I have also added home-made buttermilk into the cakes; buttermilk makes cakes amazingly fluffy and also helps in reducing the fat content. The finished cake will serve 6-7 persons.
Ingredients:
For ONE carrot cake:
- Two eggs,
- 1 cup all-purpose flour,
- 1/2 cup refined oil or melted butter,
- 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoon powdered sugar,
- Around 3 tablespoon buttermilk (to make the buttermilk, take 3 tablespoon cold milk and add 1 teaspoon vinegar into it. Do not stir, let it sit for 10 minutes. The milk will thicken and you can use it in your cake),
- Half cup very finely grated carrots; do NOT squeeze out the juice,
- 1/3 teaspoon baking powder.
For icing: (I have used the available brands at my local grocer)
- 150 gms or 2/3 of a packet of Philadelphia cream cheese,
- 2/3 cup of powdered sugar,
- 130 ml or 2/3 of a packet of Amul whipping cream
Method:
Preparing the cakes: I have made two separate cakes; the following method shows how to make one cake.
- Beat the butter and the sugar till pale yellow in colour,
- Add eggs and beat again,
- Add the carrots and mix with a spatula,
- Now add the sifted flour and baking powder, alternating it with the buttermilk, and mix,
- Grease and line your cake tin, both the bottom and the sides, with parchment paper and bake the cake at a 180 degree Celsius (always pre heat the oven) for 26-28 minutes (keep checking, as every oven is different).
- Keep the cakes aside to cool.
Icing:
- Beat cream cheese (softened at room temp) and sugar till light in colour (it won’t be very fluffy)
- Beat the refrigerated whipping cream, using a chilled whip and a chilled bowl, till stiff peaks,
- Fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese; if not using immediately, keep it refrigerated. You can add food colour, according to your choice of design;
Also, please feel free to use any icing recipe, as per your taste; however, the taste of an carrot cake gets enhanced many times, if the icing is of cream cheese.
Prep the cakes for icing:
- Here I am sharing an easy tip to level your cakes, without using a cake leveller.
- Use a bowl or a plate that fits into your cake tin; the bowl should be as deep as the dome of the cake that you want to discard.
- Now place the inverted bowl in your cake tin and then place your cake on top. The dome of the cake will rise above the brim of your tin; now use a large serrated knife, rest the knife right on the brim of the tin, to very gently cut away the top of the cake. And voilà, you have a perfectly levelled cake without using any cake leveller!
- Put some icing in between the cakes; invert the top cake, so that the smooth part stays on top,
- Keep it refrigerated for half an hour to set.
- Now, decorate your cake as per your choice
- Refrigerate for at least 5-6 hours or overnight and then enjoy the soft fluffy goodness!
I am not that much into decorating a cake, although, I am trying to learn. But hey, home-made meaning rustic, but with lot of love and care.
Hope you give it a try!
Stay tuned for many more tried and tasted recipes.
happinesskitchen 