Carrot Cake

This week end I didn’t have the time to do any baking. With our visit to one of our friends place for his birthday and some of our friends visiting us,the weekend just flew by. I squeezed some time on Monday and tried out this recipe from this book abigail johnson dodge.The cake tasted good as promised. One difference I found was the time it took to bake the cake. The book mentioned that at 15 min the cake would be done. But while I tried it, after 15 min I found the cake was only half done. It took 25- 30 min for the cake to be done.

Carrots add more moisture and flavour to the cake. Be careful not to over bake the cake else the cake may turn out dry.You can try out this cake even without the frosting. If you would like to have a more rich and heavy cake try it with the frosting.

Carrot Cake

For the cake

All purpose flour - 1 1/3 cups

Eggs large-2

Carrot grated-1 cup

Brown sugar-3/4 cup

Veg oil- 1/2 cup

Baking powder- 1 tsp

Baking soda- 1/2 tsp

Salt-1/2 tsp

Cranberries sweetened-1/4 cup

Raisins-1/3 cup

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

For frosting

unsalted Butter- 1 cup

Cream cheese - 1 cup

Confectioners sugar- 2 cups

To Make the cake

1. In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients, flour,baking powder, baking soda,salt,sugar,grated carrot,raisins and cranberries together.

2. In a medium bowl whisk the eggs,oil and vanilla until well blended.

3. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until well blended.

4. Grease an 8 inch square pan and spread the batter onto it evenly.

5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees C. Place the pan on the middle rack and bake until a tester come clean when pressed in the middle of the cake. It takes 25- 30 min.

6. Cool the cake completely.

You can enjoy the cake as it is now or try it with some frosting.

To make the frosting

1. In a large bowl combine the cream cheese and butter. Beat it until its foamy.

2. Add the confectioners sugar and beat until well blended and fluffy.

3. Use it when the cake has been cooled completely.

4. Cut the cake crosswise into 2 parts. Place one layer on a flat surface and spread the frosting evenly using a spatula. Place the second layer on top of the frosting. Spread the frosting on top and on sides evenly.

5. Cover and referigrate for atleast 2 hours before you serve.

Classic Crumble cake

This is the first recipe I have tried from The weekend Baker- by Abigail Johnson Dodge, and so by, my weekend baking has started.

I fell in love with this cake, just by looking at the photo in the book. Looking at the photo that I have taken, I know that I have not done justice to the cake. Anyways , If you try it and have a bite of the crumble topping and the soft layer of cake beaneath it , you'l just know what Im talking about. The crumble topping has a butter scotch flavour to it because of the brown sugar that we use. I have used butter for the topping , but not for the cake. I felt that the topping needed to be rich and heavy.

Classic Crumble Cake

For the Crumble Topping

Butter - 1 stick or 120 gms

Brown sugar- 1/2 cup

Granulated white sugar-3/4 cup

All purpose flour - 1.5 cup

Cinnamon- 1 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

For the Cake

All Purpose flour- 2 cups

Milk-3/4 cup

Oil-1/2 cup

Egg-2 large

Baking powder-1 tsp

Vanilla extract-1tsp

Salt-1/2 tsp

To make the Crumble Topping
1. In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Slide the pan from heat and add the granulated white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir with a spatula , until no lumps are formed.
3. Add the flour and mix well until its well blended.
Set aside to cool for 5 to 10 min.

To Make the cake
1. In a large bowl combine, the dry ingredients together. Mix the flour, granulated sugar,salt and baking powder together.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs oil and vanilla.
3. Pour the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and gently blend with a spatula.
4. In a greased 8" square pan, place a wax paper or parchment sheet and then spread the cake batter evenly.
5. Break the crumble topping mixture(see above) into medium lumps and spread them evenly over the cake batter.
6. Prehaeat the oven to 350degree C.
7. Place the pan on the medium rack and bake it for 40 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve at room temperature.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container. See more about storage.