The ultimate makeover: Carrot cake

The ultimate makeover: Carrot cake

Angela Nilsen rethinks traditional ingredients and baking techniques to create a healthier version of a classic

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Cuts into 16 squares

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 30 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr

Freezable

Cake only

Method

  1. Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. For the cake, finely grate the zest from the orange and squeeze 3 tbsp of juice. Pour the juice over the raisins in a bowl, stir in zest, then leave to soak while you make the cake. Lightly oil and line the base of a deep 20cm square cake tin. Mix the flours with 1 tsp baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.
  2. Separate one of the eggs. Put the white in a small bowl and the yolk in a large one. Break the remaining whole egg in with the yolk, then tip in the sugar. Whisk together for 1-2 mins until thick and foamy. Slowly pour in the oil and continue to whisk on a low speed until well mixed. Tip in the flour mix, half at a time, and gently stir it into the egg mixture with a rubber spatula or big spoon. The mix will be quite stiff. Put the extra pinch of baking powder in with the egg white and whisk to soft peaks.
  3. Fold the carrot, raisins (and any liquid) into the flour mixture. Gently fold in the whisked egg white, then pour into the tin. Jiggle the tin to level the mixture. Bake for 1 hr until risen and firm or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin 5 mins, turn out onto a wire rack, peel off the paper, then leave until cold.
  4. To make the frosting, stir the soft cheese, Quark, icing sugar and orange zest together - don't overbeat. Stir in the lemon juice. Swirl the frosting over the cake and cut into 16 square. This cake is even better if left well wrapped for a day or two before icing and eating. Will keep up to 5 days uniced in an airtight tin, or in the fridge if iced.

PER SERVING

217 kcalories, protein 4g, carbohydrate 31g, fat 9 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 2g, sugar 21g, salt 0.52 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2008.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo sheppy

    2008-10-03 11:17:40.763413

    sheppy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    A new carrot cake! I do have a soft spot for carrot cakes - one to try this weekend I think.

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  • Binder photo Joanna

    2008-10-03 20:12:18.537018

    Joanna commented on this recipe

    Definitely making this carrot cake, much less fat than my recipe! What is Quark ? Never seen it in my country.

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  • Binder photo Laura

    2008-10-04 18:42:13.914122

    Laura commented on this recipe

    I'll definitely give this a try. Quark cheese is similar to fromage frais. I'll be using Philadelphia.

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  • Binder photo unanic

    2008-10-14 17:52:43.458237

    unanic commented on this recipe

    Twe eggs and 115g self-raising flour are missing from the list of ingredients, I have made this cake many times and it is to die for even without the frosting,it is a healthy carrot cake.

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  • Binder photo Ali

    2008-10-17 13:34:11.564909

    Ali commented on this recipe

    Yes, there are definitely a couple of ingredients missing from the list, Good Food team....

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  • Binder photo GoodKevin_G

    2008-10-18 11:53:17.47482

    GoodKevin_G rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this yesterday; absolutely delicious! Lovely and moist and the frosting is divine.

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  • Binder photo tydrawirafon

    2008-10-18 14:55:39.755713

    tydrawirafon commented on this recipe

    Made this the other day from the recipe in the Mag (Sept 08) Its the nicest carrot cake ever, so moist and light and the raisins soaked in orange juice were sooo juicy. I'm a novice and really suprised myself by how delicious this was - much much better than any shop bought and I made it !!! Remember the eggs and SR Flour (they are mentioned in the Method), and I used light brown sugar as its what I had in. Quark is a virtually fat free soft cheese - if you are in the UK I got a 250g tub in Morrisons. Well done Angela Nilsen for a lovely healthier recipe.

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  • Binder photo jonboy

    2008-10-20 11:38:56.464043

    jonboy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    this cake was so easy, i'm only just getting into the home cooking thing and what have i been missing? the list of ingredients are missing a couple of things, although listed in the method(but not the self raising flour!), thank heaven for reviews as someone said what the missing ingredients were, the out come of the cake is LUSH!! plenty of quark and soft cheese left over so will need to make it again so these are not wasted!!

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  • Binder photo berol

    2008-10-22 21:47:49.714238

    berol rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo verityrose

    2008-10-23 03:17:39.029854

    verityrose rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Excellent recipe. Forgot to add the sugar while beating the eggs, so I added them afterwards. Still works! I was worried when the batter was stiff but it is fine. To make it even healthier I left out the icing. Delicious.

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  • Binder photo buttons

    2008-10-26 16:18:37.545086

    buttons commented on this recipe

    I made this for a family dinner and it tasted absolutley delicious. It was my first attempt at making a cake and I haven't stopped since!!

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  • Binder photo Julie Bahrain

    2008-10-28 10:42:21.689605

    Julie Bahrain rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Lovely carrot cake. I took it to work for my birthday and everyone loved it.

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  • Binder photo Jane

    2008-11-11 16:55:35.938185

    Jane rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Best carrot cake recipe ever! Had to tweek the flour ingredients as I'm wheat/gluten intolerant (severely), so used an extra spoonful of baking powder and 230g Doves Farm plain white flour. It's light, moist and utterly delicious :)

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  • Binder photo Tani

    2008-11-25 08:28:08.552306

    Tani commented on this recipe

    i really didn't like it, it tasted like a fruit cake, not carrot cake =(

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  • Binder photo unanic

    2008-12-20 13:05:32.858406

    unanic commented on this recipe

    I have made this cake many times, I even made it as one layer in my daughter's wedding cake, and I am making a number of them as christmas presents as an alternitive to christmas cake. I gave it ten stars.

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  • Binder photo vInDyA

    2009-01-12 06:14:43.494139

    vInDyA commented on this recipe

    It is a very low sweet cake. It tasted ok, but cannot really say that it's a carrot cake. Tasted more like a fruit cake. This is very very good for someone who doesn't like too sweet.

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  • Binder photo Janet

    2009-01-12 12:50:37.803965

    Janet rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Excellent! I used self raising wholemeal flour and left out the baking powder except for the pinch. the cake was wonderful and light.

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  • Binder photo Anne

    2009-01-14 17:58:58.202952

    Anne commented on this recipe

    As a diabetic, I really miss baking cakes. Is it possible to substitute some of the sugar with Splenda brown, or similar, please.

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  • Binder photo Katy

    2009-01-15 19:37:14.696913

    Katy commented on this recipe

    Great recipe. I had no wholemeal flour so used white and used sunflower instead of rapeseed and the cake turned out to be lovely and moist with a nice crumb. The Quark really works as a topping and I added walnut halves on each portion before I cut it (it helps to give you some sort of idea of how much you end up eating!) Would make again.

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  • Binder photo Ruth Joseph author

    2009-01-15 22:58:20.754921

    Ruth Joseph author commented on this recipe

    Sounds really lovely and very tempting to try but i suspect i'd add a little vanilla essence to bring out the flavour - maybe it's just me! i will give it a go well done

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Cuts into 16 squares

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 30 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr

Freezable

Cake only

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE

  • 1 medium orange
  • 140g raisins
  • 125ml rapeseed oil
  • 115g plain wholemeal flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder , plus a pinch
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 rounded tsp ground cinnamon
  • 140g dark muscovado sugar
  • 280g finely grated carrots (about 375-400g carrots before peeling)
  • 2 eggs
  • 115g self-raising flour

FOR THE FROSTING

  • 100g light soft cheese , straight from the fridge
  • 100g Quark
  • 3 tbsp sifted icing sugar
  • 1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest
  • 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
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PER SERVING

217 kcalories, protein 4g, carbohydrate 31g, fat 9 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 2g, sugar 21g, salt 0.52 g

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