Carrot Cake - A Curious Story And A Classic Recipe

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Every year on February 3, American citizens celebrate National Carrot Cake Day.

A little story about the Carrot Cake

Due to their sweet taste, carrots have been used since the Middle Ages to sweeten various dishes. Back then, sweeteners were expensive, honey was not available to everyone, and carrots contained more sugar than any other vegetable (except sugar beets), so they found their place in both salty and sweet dishes.

Carrot cake is a unique confectionery creation based on a medieval favorite called Carrot Pudding. The popularity of Carrot Cake increased during World War II. Due to the system for standardization of sugar and foods containing sugar, they become inaccessible. But there are many canned carrots, and when the war is over, the question arises: What to do with stocks of these vegetables?

The British Ministry of Food promotes recipes for carrot puddings, carrot pie and cakes with carrots. Carrots are beginning to be advertised as the best and healthiest product. Businessmen take advantage of this idea by loading cans on the counters of confectioneries and cafes.

The United States has a certain story related to the Carrot Cake. There are documents according to which President George Washington enjoyed this delicious delicacy in Lower Manhattan. He visited a tavern called Fraunces Tavern. There is an old cookbook that was compiled to record and honor early American recipes. The cookbook of the thirteen colonies was created by Mary Donovan, Amy Hetrak and Francis Schul. In this book, they offer the exact recipe for favorite carrot cake of President Washington.

The end point in the distinctive qualities of Carrot Pie was set by American healthcare in the 70s, defining the dessert as healthy and low in calories. Of course, we can argue about the latter fact, but this another time.

There are a huge number today carrot cake recipes - from the simplest (carrots, flour, butter, sugar, eggs and flour) to complex, where carrots, for example, are caramelized in sugar or walnuts are calcined with salt before being added to the dough. Many recipes include additional ingredients: nuts, dried fruits, spices, brown sugar, coconut, citrus peel, alcohol and more. Also carrot cake it can also be vegetarian, with eggs excluded from the ingredients and butter replaced with vegetable oil.

When it comes to decoration, things are not so simple either. The classic restaurant version is three marshes with white cream and cream cheese like Philadelphia, the top is decorated with chopped walnuts and / or "flowers" of carrots and more.

Interesting facts about carrots and carrot cake

- There is a carrot museum in Great Britain;

- In European countries since 1991, carrots are recognized as a fruit. The fact is that Portugal produces carrot jam, and according to European law, jam can only be made from fruit. The Portuguese achieved the recognition of carrots as a fruit so as not to violate this law;

- In Germany, "military" coffee is made from roasted carrots, the recipe of which is still preserved in some villages. This coffee has a wonderful aroma, taste and even invigorates.

Interesting facts about carrots and carrot cake

For biscuit carrot dough you will need:

- 3 eggs;

- 200 g of white (or brown) crystal sugar;

- 3-4 g of salt;

- 100 ml of refined vegetable oil;

- 50 ml of cream;

- 355 g of flour;

- 14 g baking powder;

- 4 g of soda;

- 7-10 g of cinnamon powder;

- 4 g ground nutmeg;

- 350 g of carrots;

- 50 g of walnuts.

For the cream:

- 500 g of cottage cheese, rubbed through a sieve (or cream cheese);

- 300 g of soft butter;

- 300 g of powdered sugar;

- vanilla extract to taste.

Preparation of Carrot Cake

Step 1: Make a mixture of eggs, salt, sugar, vegetable oil and cream. Its consistency should be as uniform as possible.

Step 2: It is important to properly grate the carrots for the cake tops. They should not be too large, this will make them too noticeable in the finished biscuit, so grate them not diagonally, but perpendicularly.

Step 2: The chopped (but not too fine) nuts should be lightly browned in a dry hot pan. These products will be needed at the very end of kneading the dough.

Step 4: The remaining dry ingredients should be mixed well in a separate bowl. Sift them and mix, then add in small portions to the liquid ingredients.

Step 5: Then add the carrots and nuts, mix everything quickly and transfer to a prepared form.

Step 6: The dough is baked at 180 degrees for 40 minutes when it is whole. If you divide it into 3 or 2 parts to bake separately, the baking time is reduced to 30 or 20 minutes.

Step 7: For the cake cream, beat the butter and powdered sugar on low speed, then add the cottage cheese and vanilla extract to taste, beat again. Allow the cream to stabilize slightly in the cold.

Step 8: Cut the finished cooled loaf into 2 (3 or 4, depending on your skill) loaves, smear each loaf with cream, leaving a little cream on the sides and top.

Step 9: Once the cake is completely assembled and covered with cream, you can decorate it with crumbs of marshmallows, nuts, dried grated carrots or anything else of your choice.

Step 10: Enjoy the wonderful light taste of the famous classic carrot cake!

And if you want to save some other calories, try this low-carb carrot cake. If this taste is not enough for you, choose one of these unique recipes for carrot cake or carrot cake.