Monday 19 September 2016

Carrot and Apple Cake

Carrot and apple cake


It was my mum’s birthday the other week and as tradition dictates I always make some form of carrot cake for her.

Over the years I have made carrot fondant fancies, carrot cake meringue pie, carrot loaf, carrot cake Swiss roll. So what could I come up with this year?

Carrot and apple cake


Well, as I said recently, our new home has two apple trees in the back garden and they are full of ripe apples at the moment. We are actually unsure which variety of apple they are, but they are definitely eating apples, as we often pick and eat.



I decided to use the apples in the carrot cake and I found a recipe online for carrot, apple and pecan cake which I knew mum would love.

I tweaked the recipe slightly which called for grated carrots, grated apples and chopped pecans in the batter of the cake. To decorate, I made a cream cheese frosting which is traditional with carrot cake, and I also stewed some apples from the trees. This sweetened, stewed apple mix I spread over the cream cheese in the middle when cooled and it oozed out a little, looking just like caramel.

Carrot and apple cake


I always think what makes a good carrot cake is a good mix of spices and I combined cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to give that lovely autumnal warmth.

Mum loved the cake, and as she is being ‘good’ at the moment for an upcoming wedding she only had one slice, as did I and Disneyboi. Disneyboi took the rest to his work and they happily demolished the rest of it.


Here is the recipe, adapted from myrecipes.com




print recipe

Carrot and Apple Cake
Moist layer cake packed with grated apples carrots and pecans with cream cheese frosting and apple sauce
Ingredients
  • 125 grams chopped pecans
  • 200 grams plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 450 grams + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 180 ml vegetable oil
  • 180 ml buttermilk
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 300 grams grated apples
  • 75 grams grated carrot
  • 165 grams full-fat cream cheese
  • 45 grams unsalted butter, softened
  • 450 grams icing sugar
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line two 9 inch cake tins.In a bowl sift together the flour, bicarb, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.In another bowl beat together the eggs, 450 grams granulated sugar, oil, salt, one teaspoon of vanilla and buttermilk until smooth.Blend in the flour mix and finally stir through the carrots, 230 grams of apple and chopped pecans.Divide the batter between the two cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre.Whilst letting the cakes cool fully, prepare the apple filling, by placing the remaining apples in a saucepan with the two tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of water. Stew over medium heat until the apples are soft and have become golden in colour. Allow to cool fully.Make the cream cheese frosting by beating together the cream cheese, butter and one teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Add the icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated.Place one half of the cream cheese frosting on one layer of the cake and top with the stewed apple mix.Place the other cake layer on top and cover with the remaining cream cheese frosting.Scatter on some chopped pecan if desired.Refrigerate until ready to enjoy.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 1 9" cake

Carrot and apple cake

6 comments:

  1. I'm feeling all autumnal reading this - spicy apples, lovely! How great to have trees in your garden, and what a lovely cake for your Mums birthday...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yum! I'm loving the Autumnal flavours, carrot and apple plus pecan go so well together - this cake is one of my five a day right?!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooh you have a lucky Mum! And so Autumnal too...... love the combination of flavours and textures in this one, Stuart! x

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love carrot cake. I love apple cake. So this is a bit of heaven on a cake plate. Everyone I know is being "good" pretty much all the time at the moment. Personally I'm not sure that I could have stopped at one slice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Before my wedding I asked many last minute questions from the manager, and his answer was always: "we have that covered" or "no problem". It was extremely comforting. I am so thankful to the manager and their staff from New York wedding venues for all of their efforts on our behalf.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving your comments. I love your feedback and really do appreciate it.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.