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I am so excited to be sharing this modified recipe with you all! Well, I said “modified” because I didn’t exactly follow the recipe’s original ingredients and I simply modified it to suit my tastebud! My first carrot cake failed (again I blame it on the recipe! Hehehe), so I guess second time’s the charm for me! LOL! This recipe makes more sense than the previous one I used. Anyway, here it is!

Ingredients (A):

375ml corn oil [I ended up using about 225ml]
170g castor sugar [I used 150g]
140g brown sugar [I used 120g]
4 egg yolks
1 ½ cup carrot shreds [I’d recommend at least 2 cups!]

Ingredients (B) [sifted]:

250g low protein flour [I don’t have the flour and didn’t want to rush out to buy either, hence, I used my existing self-raising flour]
2tsp five spice powder [I used mixed spice since I didn’t have the five spice, and I used about 1 ½ level tsp]
1 ½ tsp baking powder [only use this if you’re using the low protein flour]
1 tsp salt

Ingredients (C):

4 egg whites

Ingredients (D) for decoration:
150g cream cheese
90g butter
2 tsp vanilla essence
150g icing sugar
1 cup carrot shreds
Some carrot particles

Method:

1. Whisk egg yolk and sugar in a mixing bowl, gradually adding the corn oil into the mixture, and lastly the carrot shreds (of Ingredients A).

2. Add in Ingredients B into the mixture and mix well.

3. In another mixing bowl, beat Ingredients C till stiff. Then, add in the mixture from Step 1 and mix them well together.

4. Pour into a cake tin lined with greaseproof paper and bake at 180C for 45 to 55 minutes (till cooked).

5. While waiting for the cake to cool, prepare the cream cheese icing by first creaming the butter and cream cheese together till soft and fluffy.

6. Gradually add in icing sugar and beat till smooth. Now we have the cream cheese icing ready.

7. Spread the cream cheese to cover the whole cake, then decorate with carrot shreds and carrot particles of Ingredients D. Chill the cake for at least 2 hours before serving.

Some comments on the method above:

In Ingredients A, 375ml of corn oil is just too much. I followed my baker’s instinct when I noticed that it’s getting pretty oily and stopped at about 150ml. I’d suggest that you start out with 200ml of oil first, then gradually add in if it’s not enough and stop if you feel that it’s too oily. As usual, I always reduce the amount of sugar I used, coz’ the icing is gonna be sweet and I wanted to balance it. Oh, and try using 2 cups of carrot shreds instead!!

In Ingredients B, DO NOT use 2 teaspoonful of five spice or mixed spice powder coz’ it has a very strong smell (similar to cinnamon), and I only used like 1 ½ level tsp of the spice. When I say ‘level’, it means the powder comes FLAT on top of the teaspoon, not like a mountain! In my next try, I’ll use only 1tsp instead coz’ 1 ½ still smell overwhelmingly strong. Oh, and be careful, if you’re using self-raising flour, there is NO need to put in the baking powder! Otherwise, God bless you for making a BALLOON cake!

In Ingredients D, the cream cheese icing is only enough to cover the entire cake. In my next try, I’ll double the amount of the icing, cut the cake into two or three layers and spread them evenly on each layer! I think that will surely taste even better!

In Step 4, I took almost an hour to bake my cake. So I guess it still depends on the type of oven we use. Anyway, just remember to check your cake using a cake tester, begin with 45 minutes, then add another 5 minutes and so on till it’s cooked. Oh, and there were bubbles all over the top of my cake! I wonder why! LOL!

In Step 7, you must at least chill the cake for 2 hours. For best results, chill beyond that! Say, maybe 4 hours? The cream cheese icing will hardened a little and when you cut in the cake…ah…the icing didn’t melt nor drip like blood and the cake’s texture didn’t crumble either. And one more thing, I turned the cake upside down before spreading the cream cheese coz’ it’s a totally flat surface at the bottom and it looks nicer compare to covering the cake like a mountain due to the raised centre portion.

Ahhh…so there you have it! A simple carrot cake for tea time (or breakfast!). Do let me know how yours turn out!