Hey, can you give me a recipe for some easy tin cake I can prep ahead for an upcoming party? Uh, sorry I’m kind of busy right now, I’ll think of something later, but can’t you just make, like a carrot cake, spice it up with I don’t know turmeric, cardamom and spread over with mascarpone cream, anyways I’ll call you later and think of something. Wait….that actually sounds great and I’m totally going to make it.
The carrot sponge:
All though I’ve never been a fan of healthy desserts, simply because I see them either as fake or disgusting, coming up with the recipe for this carrot cake I did sway by healthier alternatives for most ingredients to make the carrot itself count.
I used spelt flour instead of regular wheat flour to bring out the nutty aroma even more, and since this is a fairly moist cake brown sugar works perfectly to give richness and aid an even juicier texture. As for the fat, most recipes will call for vegetable oil like sunflower oil which will give the cake a beautiful moist texture and mouth feel but I’m not a fan of most vegetable oils so I opted for flavourless coconut oil which still provides sufficient amount of moistness. (Since coconut oil is solid at room temperature it will firm the cake up a bit when chilled.)
To spice things up I added ground turmeric, ginger, cardamom and nutmeg. (Just to clarify, as can be seen in the video, I’ve overdone the turmeric and cardamom a bit, so do as I say, not as you see me do in the video!)
The frosting:
To balance out a rather spicy and rich sponge I wanted to make a light and delicate topping. Mascarpone and carrot cake go together like alcohol & bad decisions so there’s no surprise in the mascarpone frosting.
But since mascarpone itself needs some kind of emulsifier to hold firm when beaten (either that or ton of powdered sugar, but that’s not my cup of tea.) I had to supplement it with double cream. (please use milk fat cream not the hideous vegetable fat…thing.) Along with a light drizzle of honey and a touch of vanilla, it resulted in a supremely delicate cream I could see myself eating a tub of with a spoon.
The garnish:
To bring out the contrast additionally as well as produce some more texture candied turmeric seemed to work perfectly for me, since I do already have it in the sponge. Fresh turmeric is often a bit harder to find so you can follow the exact same steps to make candied carrot, the result will be the same presentation wise.
And for those of you wondering what are those “purplish” bits over the frosting – it’s dried cornflower!
Tips:
To produce a sponge that’s evenly baked on all sides without that rise in the center, before baking wrap a wet bandage or any other piece of cloth around the edges of your baking tray. The wet cloth will prevent the temperature shock around the edges and effectuate an even rise through out the surface.
If you’re feeling extra posh, use an angle ruler and a sharp knife to cut out exact same pieces.
