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Carrot cake: moist, delicious, American

Carrot cake (right along with cheesecake) is the American export par excellence. And made with dirty Normand carrots, it was a worthy tribute to the virtues of baking à l’American: 4 eggs, plenty of oil, more sugar than you can ever add to a recipe in good conscience, topped with the requisite cream cheese frosting.
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Ingredients

  • Flour 3 cups (375 g)
  • Sugar 2 cups (450 g)
  • Salt 1 tsp
  • Baking soda 1 Tbsp
  • Cinnamon 1 Tbsp
  • Olive oil or grapeseed oil or canola oil, or a mix of oil and applesauce, as you deem fit, 1-½ cups (350 ml)
  • Eggs 4 large, lightly beaten
  • Vanilla extract 1 Tbsp.
  • Shelled walnuts 1-½ cups (150 g)
  • Shredded coconut 1-½ cups (90 g)
  • Carrots of course! shredded, 2 cups
  • Pineapple crushed and drained, 1 cup, see Note below

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and lightly flour two 9-inch (22 cm) cake pans, or one bundt pan or a muffin tin or whatever baking form you have on hand.
  • Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl.
  • Add oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat well.
  • Gently stir in walnuts, coconut, carrot and pineapple.
  • Pour into pan(s). (See note below)
  • Bake 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  • Cool on a cake rack.
  • Once the cake(s) are fully cooled you can frost them with the elusive heroine of American baking: cream cheese frosting.

Notes

Pineapple : Interesting fact: crushed pineapple is a delicacy that one does not find on the shelf of a standard French supermarket. I used ½ can of sliced pineapple and then crushed it with a fork, slice by slice.
Pan(s) : The recipe is set up for making a double-layer carrot cake, which I fully intended to do. But then I realized that I don’t have two identical cake pans… oh the horror! In the end I used a bundt pan (that’s a pan with a hole in the middle) and it worked out great. You could also make these into cupcakes. Just reduce the cooking time and take them out when the toothpick comes out clean.