Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Carrot Cake - Healthy Cake?






To continue with my recurring theme of loving unhealthy foods, would you consider carrot cake to be healthy or unhealthy? Healthy is a word which is very in. Healthy living, healthy choices are all expressions to which we react with pride.

Now as far as carrot cake is concerned, it has carrot, uses only vegetable oil, brown sugar instead of refined white sugar, walnuts... I think it is healthy or at the very least as healthy as a cake slice can be. I definitely think that the carrots give the cake a shining health-halo on top. Most people consider a slice of carrot cake to be health food.





The dense and spicy taste of this cake makes it loved by all. Even though it has a healthy tag and is therefore not supposed to taste good, this cake can really surprise you - it is really yummy. The oil and the carrot in the cake make it moist even if kept for a few days.

This cake can be so easily made with whole wheat flour rather than all purpose flour. I made it with maida but I think next time around, I will experiment with whole wheat flour. I think that will only make it tastier and more dense. Also, the addition of walnut adds a crunch and some amount of omega-3 fats.

The only thing it healthy or not, this cake will tempt you beyond anything else. And then it certainly becomes very unhealthy if you finish the whole cake in one sitting. Indulgence is good only up to a point.


Now on a more serious note: PLAGIARISM. I have heard of it happening, seen it too. It happened to me once and a kind reader pointed it out. When I complained, they promptly took it off. This time a friend posted a link on Facebook about food that he loves. It looked interesting. So I went through the site I saw this picture. It looked so much like mine picture here. I went back to my blog to check. And sure enough it was mine. Now I don't know whether to be flattered or to be mad.
Anyway I took it up. Lets hope something comes of it.




Now to the recipe...


INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups Flour
2 cups brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Vegetable Oil
4 Eggs
3 cups Carrot grated
1 cup Walnuts chopped



METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350 deg F or 175 degC.

Sift together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon powder until well mixed.

Pour in the oil and mix till well blended.

Add the eggs one a time, beating throughly each time.

Blend in the carrots and walnuts.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes in a 9"X 13" pan. Or till a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Frost with a cream cheese frosting if you would like (recipe follows)

ENJOY!!!!!!!


CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

225 grams Cream Cheese
50 grams Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1 cup Icing sugar

Soften the cream cheese and butter till it is at room temperature.
Cream well with the icing sugar and vanilla essence.
Frost the cake.

ENJOY!!!!!!


7 comments:

Srivalli said...

Carrot Cake looks great Kamini..carrot is always healthy. Sadly this has eggs..:(..for me to try. anyway hope they take off your picture.

sanjeeta kk said...

The cake looks so rich and delicious. Lovely color and texture. Got to know from Valli's mail that you are from the same place. Nice to meet you. Take care.

Lite Bite

Kamini said...

Thanks Srivalli and Sangeeta. Catch up with you all on Saturday..

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

thats a delectable cake. last time i baked with carrots it was a disaster so am bookmakring this.
on another note, Thanks Kamini for participating in Arusuvai once again.
great to see you with us. please can you send me your mail id to ahomemakersdiary@yahoo.in

Divya said...

this is really healthy one.....

ARUNA said...

looks yummy....its on my list since long, i don't know when i'll try.....its been ages since i blogged, feel so sad!

Dagmar Janíková said...

Thanks for a delicous recipe. I´ve tried it and here is the result http://coztakhledatsi.blogspot.cz/2013/06/mrkvovy-kolac-carrot-cake.html

Anyway, I think that this type of cake is healthier but not too much, there is too much sugar in my opinion to became healthy. But it is one of the most delicious cake I´ve ever eaten.