Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Any excuse for a cake or two! 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s Grandma’s birthday tomorrow and she’ll be spending her fun filled day with the kids while I head off to work.  Of course we need a cake to sing happy birthday as soon as she walks in the door, probably multiple times throughout the day, then again for a family dinner. 

The kids at the park with Grandma

 Another reason to celebrate is about half of the people at work completed the Run Geelong like I did on the weekend.  Run Geelong was a huge success with 11,792 Participants and over $500, 000 raised for the children’s ward at the Geelong Hospital. 

The quickly devoured cake at work - most of it gone by 11am!

 So I think everyone deserves cake!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

 I decided on carrot cake as Grandma is not really a sweet tooth and this is the type of cake I don’t mind the kids sharing.  In fact for the 2 cakes I had Summer count out 10 carrots which adds plenty of fibre and vitamins not to mention moisture and taste.  I put all those carrots straight into the Thermomix and in just a few seconds I had a bowl full of bright orange goodness. I chopped the pecans and mixed the icing for both cakes at once also and just made the rest of the cakes separately (only because the mix is quiet large).

This cake is actually a Donna Hay recipe with my predictable variations of much less sugar, a little honey and some nutmeg.  Very easy but a real crowd pleaser!

 Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

60g pecans
5 carrots (preferably organic)
110g rapadura (or raw) sugar
60g local honey
180g grapesed or other neutral flavoured oil
3 eggs
100g wholemeal flour
125g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
80g sultanas

250g cream cheese
100g icing sugar (I milled raw sugar)
1 tbls lemon juice

• Preheat oven to 180°C and grease or line a 20cm baking tin (square or round) with baking paper
• Place pecans in Thermomix bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 6 then set aside
• Place carrots in bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 6 then set aside
• Place sugar, honey and oil in bowl and mix for 1 minute on speed 6 (no need to clean bowl between)
• Add eggs and mix for another 20 seconds on speed 6
• Add flours and spices and mix for 5 seconds on speed 5
• Add carrots, pecans and sultanas and mix for 10 seconds, speed 2 on Reverse
• Pour into baking tin and bake for 55 – 60 minutes or until inserted skewer comes out clean
• Allow to cool before removing
• For the icing, in a clean Thermomix bowl mill raw sugar to icing sugar (30 seconds speed 9)
• Add cream cheese and icing sugar and mix about 30 seconds speed 6
• Refrigerate a little while cake is cooling then simply pour over.

This cake is best stored in the refrigerator due to the cream cheese frosting  

Enjoy!

Carrot, Date and Pecan Cake

Purple Carrots

Last weekend we had the pleasure of venturing to the nearby Moriac Makersand Growers market.  There’s something about this market that makes it just that little bit different.  It’s only held every three months and there’s a cute yet quirky feel to it.  There’s local produce including cheeses, olives, bread, and Summer’s favourite icecream.  Then there’s lovely handmade bits and pieces including gorgeous handmade hair clips and earrings which Summer, our friend Lauren and I treated ourselves to.

Purple Carrot, Date and Pecan Cake

Although it was a lovely sunny day it was a bit of a mud pit but none the less we enjoyed a shared lunch with live music and the kids had fun on the playground nearby.  My most exciting purchase was a bag full of fresh, local, organic vegies.  I could have easily bought 2 bags full but I tried to resist.  Lauren even found kohl rabi which she bought one for her dad for father’s day.  How gorgeous is that!

 

One of our favourites was a bunch of multi coloured carrots which we’ve really enjoyed all week.  The last to be consumed was some purple carrots, so today came the idea of making a carrot cake – with purple carrots!  The recipe is actually based around the Zucchini cake in the “A Taste of Vegetarian” Thermomix cookbook but using carrots, much less sugar, pecans instead of walnuts, and a little honey. Yum!

 


Chopped Pecans, Dates and Purple Carrots


Carrot, Date and Pecan Cake
70g pecans
100g dates
250g carrots (any colour roughly chopped)
100g sultanas
2 free range eggs
90g grapeseed oil
60g raw or rapadura sugar
80g honey
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
210g self raising flour

• Pre heat oven to 180° and lightly grease a round cake tin (or loaf pan)
• Place pecans in Thermomix bowl and chop for 10 seconds speed 7 then set aside
• Place dates in Thermomix bowl and chop for 12 seconds speed 6 and add to pecans
• Place roughly chopped carrots in Thermomix bowl and chop for 5 seconds speed 5 and add to pecans and dates
• Place eggs, oil, sugar, honey, cinnamon, salt and sultanas in Thermomix bowl and mix for 10 seconds speed 4
• Add flour and bowl of pecans, dates and carrots and mix for 25 seconds speed 4
• Pour into cake pan and bake for 45 minutes or until inserted skewer comes out clean 

Lovely served with a dollop of Greek yoghurt

Enjoy!

Orange, Carrot and Date Loaf

Well it’s the first day of spring and we’ve had an amazing day out in the garden.  I tackled the winter weeds especially from the veggie garden.  I then started preparing the soil for new veggie planting now that the masses of wild rocket and rhubarb are coming to an end.  The kids had a great day too and while Summer would plant a new flower in her fairy garden, little Finn would come along and pull them out.  And veggie daddy is on his latest venture.... planning a rather large skateboard ramp in the backyard... stay tuned for that one...

Orange, Carrot and Date Loaf
 

The kids are going crazy about oranges at the moment.  Even veggie daddy who says he wasn’t a fan of oranges on the sporting field as a kid is devouring them.  So I’m buying them by the bag full and enjoying them any way possible.  I also have a large box of fresh dates I bought in bulk.

Orange zest and carrots in the Thermomix

I found this recipe on another great blog called Surprisingly Domestic and tweaked it a little further.  I mainly reduced the sugar as I found the dates add plenty of sweetness and I wanted to let my one year old enjoy it. It’s quite a healthy loaf and the carrots and dates add plenty of flavour and fibre.  It tastes just like spring time and while it’s devine still warm from the oven (we had it for afternoon tea in the garden), it’s also great served with a little yoghurt the next day.

 
Orange, Carrot and Date Loaf

1 orange
100g dates
280g carrots
3 eggs
60g grapeseed oil
130g yoghurt
100g wholemeal flour
200g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
80g raw sugar
1 tsp cinnamon 

• Preheat oven to 180°
• Line a loaf tin with baking paper
• Remove peel from orange, place in Thermomix and zest 10 seconds speed 9
• Add carrots and grate 5 seconds speed 5 then set aside
• Chop dates 5 seconds speed 5 then set aside
• Remove pith from orange and quarter, place in Thermomix and juice 20 seconds speed 8
• Add eggs and mix 5 seconds speed 5
• Add dry ingredients and mix 20 seconds speed 4
• Add orange zest, carrots and dates and mix 20 seconds speed 4 on Reverse 
• Pour into loaf tin and bake 180° for 50 minutes
• Cool 10 minutes in tin before turning out
• This is a very moist cake so skewer may not come out completely dry

Best served warm or later with yoghurt

Enjoy!