Many many years ago, when I was a child, I learned to bake cakes while helping my aunt. We made chiffon cakes, chocolate cakes, fruit cakes, and many other baked goodies. But when my aunt decided to retire her side business of making cakes, I stopped baking as well.

It was only a few years ago that I decided to bake cakes again. After nearly two decades of not baking cakes, I was a bit lost, without a single trusted cake recipe, neither a single baking tin, nor a single decorating tip.

The funny thing is, I cannot remember how I met this carrot cake recipe. But this is the cake recipe that got me baking again, and I have made this carrot cake so many times. We love how it’s moist and not too sweet (in contrast to a bakeshop-bought one we’ve tasted once, which was the complete opposite – too sweet and dry!). But then, the best way of creating a moist cake is not over-baking it – when it’s done, take it out of the oven right away!

So anyway, here’s the delicious carrot cake recipe, tweaked to suit the taste of me and the crowd I feed. Enjoy!

Ingredients:                                       Icing:
Olive oil (for greasing)                        250 g    spreadable cream cheese
2 (300g) carrots, finely grated           1/3 c     icing sugar
1   c   self raising flour                          1/2 t      vanilla essence
1/2 c  plain flour
1   t    bicarbonate soda
1/2 t   ground cinnamon
2/3 c   brown sugar
3/4 c   organic olive oil
1/2 c   maple syrup
3        eggs
1   t    vanilla essence

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius, or 150C if using a fan-force oven.  Lightly grease a cake pan with oil and line with baking paper.

Sift flours, bicarb soda and cinnamon in a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk brown sugar, oil, maple syrup, eggs and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix well with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots.

Place the mixture into the pan and bake for approximately 55 minutes. Then, let cool in the pan for a few minutes, before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing, combine the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl, using a wooden spoon, until well mixed. Spread the icing over the cake.