A Moist Carrot Cake – deliciously tasty!

My husband of nearly 6 years told me something today I didn’t know – that I was the first girlfriend, or partner, or wife for that matter, that had ever baked him a cake!

We were ‘dating’ and it was his birthday and I knew that Carrot Cake was a favourite of his however I had never baked one. Never. I impulsively decided to impress him with my baking skills and treat him to a home-made cake.

From my desk at work I googled recipes – there were so many! I had no idea but chose one and during my lunch break shopped for ingredients. It was his birthday that day so I had to get organised quickly!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
4 eggs
2 cups sugar ( I used castor sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, essence or paste
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup coconut
1 small can of crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped dates

Preheat the oven to 170°c, and prepare a large baking dish or bundt pan.
In one bowl mix all of the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Take another bowl and the eggs, sugar vanilla paste and mix together well. Stir in the oil until the mix is thickened.
Gently pour the wet mix into the dry until well combined.
Fold in the carrots, walnuts, pineapple, coconut and dates.
Pour into the prepared cake pan and spread the mix evenly. Bake for 55 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes and then turn out.

Traditional icing for a carrot cake is a mix of cream cheese and icing sugar – a moist carrot cake can do without this additional indulgence really but….for a special occasion you should really go the whole way! 🙂

I topped the cake with a mix of chopped walnuts, cranberries and dried apricots (healthier? delicious? yes!) and better than candles unless you have young children around and then candles are a must on any cake 🙂

I hope your family enjoy this delicious moist carrot cake as much as my then ‘boyfriend’ did. He is my husband now and I have made it again for him on special occasions – and this afternoon. No, it’s not his birthday today. He has been running around after me whilst I have been recovering from surgery and I haven’t been the easiest of…patient’s but he has been a star! Thank you honey..hope you enjoy the cake! xx