Easter Carrot Walnut Cake
- Sweet
- Oven
A moist, dense carrot cake baked in the oven with grated carrots, toasted walnuts and a cinnamon-scented cream cheese topping. Honest, fondant texture, no leavening needed.
- Total
- 1 h 51
- Prep 20 · Cook 71 · Rest 20
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Whisking · Folding
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 175°C. Line a 20 cm round cake tin with baking parchment and lightly grease it with a little of the vegetable oil.
~12 min
-
Spread the walnuts on a small baking tray and toast in the oven until fragrant and lightly golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Set aside to cool, then roughly chop.
~8 min
Toasting drives off moisture and browns the walnuts' oils, deepening their flavour and keeping them crisp in the batter.
-
Peel the carrots and grate them on the fine side of a box grater, about 250 g prepared weight.
~6 min
Fine grating breaks the carrots into short strands that blend into the batter, so the crumb stays moist rather than stringy.
Grate the carrots finely so they disappear into the batter and keep the crumb moist rather than stringy.
-
Whisk the eggs and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until smooth and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the vegetable oil, salt and cinnamon.
~2 min
Whisking dissolves the sugar and aerates the eggs slightly, giving the batter a head start on structure since there is no leavening.
Whisking Whisk briskly in a steady circular motion until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened; stop as soon as it looks even, since over-whisking can make it frothy.
-
Fold in the flour and grated carrots with a spatula until just combined, then fold in three quarters of the chopped walnuts. Scrape the batter into the lined tin and smooth the top.
~4 min
Folding gently and stopping as soon as the flour disappears avoids overworking the gluten, which would make the cake tough and dry.
Folding Use a spatula to cut down through the batter and lift it over, turning the bowl as you go. Stop the moment the flour streaks vanish; stirring instead deflates and toughens.
-
Bake until the top springs back when pressed and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
~55 min
Cooling briefly in the tin lets the cake set before turning out, while the wire rack lets steam escape so the base does not go soggy.
Because there is no leavening, the cake will not dome much; judge doneness by the skewer, not by the rise.
-
Beat the cream cheese with a spatula until smooth, then spread it over the cooled cake and scatter with the remaining walnuts.
~4 min
Spreading the topping on a fully cooled cake stops it from melting and sliding off.
-
Let the cake stand for 20 minutes so the topping firms up before slicing.
~20 min
