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Wholemeal ginger carrot cake – perfect for afternoon tea or a celebration

Wholemeal ginger carrot cake – perfect for afternoon tea or a celebration

Wholemeal ginger carrot cake recipe

In my book there isn’t much to eat that ginger doesn’t make better. A ginger carrot cake is just that little bit more special tasting than a plain old carrot cake. A hit of spice makes carrot taste nice.

I like this ginger carrot cake recipe because it makes two really good size cakes. You can stack them to make a big, impressive celebration cake. Or you can make two afternoon-tea-size cakes – one for now and one to freeze for later. If you go the freeze route, plastic-wrap unfrosted and put into a freezer bag. Will keep for a couple of months.

My preference is to make two cakes and surprise a friend with one. There’s nothing quite so special as finding a surprise ginger carrot cake on your front doorstep.


This makes a nice surprise too: Raspberry and coconut loaf


 

Wholemeal ginger carrot cake

Wholemeal ginger carrot cake recipe

Makes 1 celebration or 2 single-layer cakes
Takes 45 minutes
Bakes 35 minutes

•  2 cups plain wholemeal flour
•  1 cup brown sugar
•  2 teaspoons baking powder
•  ½ teaspoon bicarb soda
•  Big pinch of salt
•  4 cups grated carrots (about 4-5 carrots)
•  4 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
•  ⅔ cup light olive oil
•  ¼ cup freshly-squeezed orange juice (about one orange)
•  1 tsp ground ginger or 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
•  1 cup toasted walnuts or brazil nuts, finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 180ºC and grease and line two 22 cm round cake tins.

In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir through carrots until well coated with flour mix.

In another bowl combine eggs, oil, orange juice, and ginger. Gently stir egg mixture into flour mixture and stir through nuts if using.

Pour batter into prepared cake tins and smooth. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Cool in the tins on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out to cool thoroughly on racks.

Cream cheese icing

Cream cheese icing recipe

•  30g butter, softened
•  80g cream cheese, softened
•  1 tsp vanilla paste
•  1½ cups icing sugar

Using electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese together. Add vanilla and beat well. Slowly add icing sugar and beat until creamy and fluffy.

You can either ice each cake layer as a separate cake (my preference for an everyday treat – one for us, one to drop over to surprise a friend) or frost the top of one layer with about a third of the icing, stack second layer on top and spread remaining icing over whole cake. Sprinkle with roughly crushed walnuts or brazil nuts as I’ve done here.

Do you ever bake a cake to drop to a friend?

Wholemeal ginger carrot cake recipe