Prethika's Space: Carrot Walnut Cake

This is been in my mind for a long time,but somehow posting this cake recipe was delayed due to some reasons.Finally i committed myself today ,to not skip it at any cost.This cake can be categorized under tea cakes,but not only under that category.You can also use this cake as specialized cakes for your party needs ,just do a simple butter-cream icing or do a rich cream cheese frosting and delight your loved ones.Instead of the regular sponge cake base try this one ,i promise you will fall in love with it.

This carrot cake is a simple, yet a rich cake too,Does it sounds to be contradictory.....Oh!!! No confusions ,i meant simple in the sense,there is no need to do extra works like ,crushing for the orange/pineapple juice.And rich in the sense ,the addition of nuts and grated carrots,which is the best way to be served for kids who discard veggies and nuts.

This best cake recipe comes down...

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour - 1.5 Cup
Eggs - 3
Castor/Powdered Sugar - 1 1/4 C
Carrots (grated) - 1 3/4 Cup
Cardamom - 3 to 4 pods
Cinnamon - 2 "sticks (2 no's)
Refined Oil - 3/4 Cup
Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Chopped nuts - 1/2 Cups (I used walnuts)
Water/Milk - 2 Tbsp (Optional)

Method

Measure the sugar and reserve a Tbsp of it and powder the remaining using the mixer,keep aside.Now take the reserved 1Tbsp of sugar along with cardamom and cinnamon stick, powder it finely using the mixer.Mix it to the powdered sugar.The sift flour along with the baking powder and keep aside.Chop the nuts of your choice,I have used Walnuts .You can also add mixed combination of nuts like cashews,raisins,almonds and walnuts.Preheat oven to 200° C.Grease the tray and keep aside.

Now in a wide bowl add the eggs and beat them in high speed until it is light and frothy.It might take atleast 2-3 minutes.Then add the powdered sugar along with the spices(Cardamom and cinnamon powder).Beat them for another 2 minutes and add the refined oil and once again beat them for a minute.

Keep aside the beater/hand mixer,now with the help of a wooden spatula,add the all purpose flour in a 3-4 batches and fold them with the spatula without forming lumps.

Before the last addition add half the quantity of grated carrots and fold well again.This is done because during each addition of flour the batter gets thick and it will tend to form a dough like appearance,if you add the grated carrots after that it will be difficult to mix so to avoid that,we add the carrots before the last addition of the flour batch.Finally add the chopped nuts and fold to ensure the nuts are mixed evenly throughout the batter.Now check to the batter consistency,If the batter looks like a pouring or a dropping consistency you can proceed to the next step,Else add 2 Tbsp of water/milk and fold again.This should be done only if the batter looks too thick .

Transfer the batter to the greased tray and bake under 180° C for 40 -50 minutes,or until it is done.Insert a tooth pick to the center of the cake ,if it comes out clean remove the cake tin from the oven and allow it cool for a couple of minutes and demould from the cake tray and allow it to cool on a wire rack and serve .