Carrot Walnut Cake with Mandarin Oranges
It’s been raining the past few days, and where I live in the tropics, this is welcome news. My little one and I have been snuggling under the covers on most evenings just before dinner, reading her favourite Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I know I’ve been quiet on social media, but this intermittent period of ‘missing in action’ has been wonderful for both my mental and physical health. I had a minor surgery last week to remove a skin lesion so I took a few days off to recuperate. On Sunday, we went to visit my late grandparents’ graves to place some flowers because it was Qingming Festival in the Chinese calendar where we honour our ancestors and commemorate those dear to us who have passed on. In the late afternoon, I made this classic walnut carrot cake with mandarin oranges for Easter.
I find that cream cheese is susceptible to the slightest heat so the first batch of frosting I made with just 375g of icing sugar ended up drippy. I kept the frosting and added more icing sugar, a 150g at a time, until I finally arrived at my ideal consistency, within a 400-600g window. The trick is to gently fold the icing sugar in slowly with a spoon so it’s thick, white and holds its shape. If you overbeat it, the texture goes slack or runny, so just barely beat in each spoonful of icing sugar before adding the next 150g. I always opt for good quality cream cheese like Philadelphia that are brick-shaped (not whipped). They’re better suited for baking rather than the ones in a tub. But even then I’m surprised that the water content in its brick form is still quite high. I drained the excess fluid with a muslin cloth. You could also add in double cream to stabilise it further.
I decorated my carrot loaf cake with edible flowers and finely chopped walnuts. I was happy to find that a nearby supermarket had restocked some locally grown violets and pansies which I adored.
Carrot Walnut Cake with Mandarin Oranges
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 213 g brown sugar sifted
- 99 g vegetable oil
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 240 g fine cake flour sifted
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda don't forget to check the freshness of your baking soda
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups carrots shredded
- 1/2 cup walnuts coarsely chopped, extra for garnish
- 142 g mandarin oranges washed and chopped, seeds removed and excess juice drained; keep skin for zesting
- 1/2 tsp orange zest grated
For The Frosting
- 227 g cream cheese softened
- 55 g salted butter softened
- 2-3 tsp milk room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 400-600 g icing sugar (or confectioner's sugar) sifted
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder optional
- edible flowers for decoration
Instructions
To Make The Cake
- Pre-heat oven to 177 C. Grease bottom and sides of a rectangular 9 x 22 inch loaf pan with butter or non-stick baking spray, then lined it with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, oil and eggs (break eggs one at a time) with an electric mixer on low speed about 30 seconds or until well incorporated. Fold in flour, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla and salt then beat on low speed for 1 minute. Stir in shredded carrots, walnuts, oranges, orange zest and nutmeg. Beat again until combined.
- With a spatula, spoon the batter into the loaf pan slowly, making sure to spread it out evenly in all directions. Once done, give your pan a light tap a few times to burst any air bubbles.
- Transfer your pan to the oven (centre rack with top and bottom even heating) and bake for 35-40 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then remove the cake from the pan carefully (you can lift up the parchment paper in which the cake sits). If you find that the top of your cake has cracked, don’t worry as that can be easily fixed when you frost the cake later. Just slice off the top of the cake with a serrated knife to get an even layer before icing.
To Make The Frosting
- In the meantime, prepare the frosting. Scoop out your cream cheese onto the centre of a clean muslin cloth. As you would a piping bag, gather up the sides of the cloth and twist it then hold it over the sink or a bowl and apply pressure. You should see some excess liquid dripping out from the bottom of the cloth. Once you’ve gotten as much liquid out as possible from the ball of cream cheese, set it down on a kitchen towel and leave to dry out.
- Beat softened butter in a bowl with an electric whisk until smooth, then add cream cheese and whisk on medium high until well combined, about 1 minute. Measure 150g of sieved icing sugar with an electric scale, then spoon the sugar into the bowl slowly and beat for 30 seconds. Repeat until the frosting is very thick and stiff. Do a test by dipping your spoon into the batter then lift it up, or hold it upside down—the frosting shouldn’t slide off your spoon. Now you can refrigerate it for 10 minutes before using it. Don’t forget to cover the top of your bowl with cling wrap or a clean cloth before refrigerating.
Notes
If you made this dish, let me know by tagging @saveurmalaisie on Instagram!
