Carrot & apple cake with cream cheese & lime frosting

This wonderful cake has been making the rounds here in London - I have been bringing it to every festivity imaginable from baby showers to cake sales and birthday parties... and people keep asking for the recipe, so here it is, the wait is finally over.

Carrot cake is a big thing here in the UK. It's sold in every cafe, every corner store, every petrol station, every sandwich shop... it's probably the most common sweet fix your average Londoner enjoys. Possibly because you might be cajoled into thinking that it's healthy - although the reality is that by the time you've cut through the thick, hard icing that's on top of your run-with-the-mill variety, you've consumed a week's worth of your RDA of sugar. But if you thought that practice makes perfect, you'd be surprised how many carrot cakes sold out there are actually almost inedible (in my humble view) - it's really hard to find a good one and after many disappointing buys, I have simply stopped trying.

In Austria, carrot cake is almost unknown, although I distinctly remember my Mum making one every once in a whilewhen I was growing up (her version involves lots of almonds and she decorates it with chocolate glaze)... but most people shudder at the mere thought of putting vegetables into their cake. It was only because we had so many apples left in the spare fridge from our autumn harvest and I clearly will soon be needing some space for chocolate santas and reindeers and for hiding Christmas presents, and I was bored of apple cakes and tarte tatins that I decided to re-invent the carrot cake. Or at least I think I've re-invented it by lacking any kind of direction of what you actually put in a typical carrot cake... as I said, I am not an expert.

So my carrot cake happens to combine carrots with apples, contains no nuts (as I was making the first one for a cake sale and there's a very strict no-nuts policy at that school) and the icing on the cake is actually not icing, but a cream-cheese and lime frosting. I can't stress how wonderfully moist this cake is, if you're a carrot cake novice, there's no way you can screw this recipe up, so you're safe here. Go on, give it a try. Although it might not fit into a weight-loss programme, it's probably healthier than many cakes out there... and you won't taste the carrots - I promise!

Update 29 Dec 2010:
I have omitted the step of melting the butter, this makes the dough less runny and the cake rises more evenly.

Carrot & apple cake with cream cheese & lime frosting
(Thermomix recipe instructions included: TXspeed, time, temperature)

300 g peeled carrots
150 g peeled & cored apples
150 g butter (at room temperature)
100 g soft dark brown sugar
100 g unrefined (golden) caster sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
180 g flour

For the frosting:
250 g cream cheese
juice and zest of 1 lime
50 g caster sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 150C.

First, grate the apples and carrots.
This is best done in a powerful kitchen gadget - if you are doing it by hand, grate coarsely and squeeze out excess juices before adding to the batter. (TX6, drop onto running blades, as the last piece has fallen in, turn off).

Next, add the butter and sugars and beat until light and fluffy (TX4, 2 min, 38C), scrape down the sides). Add the eggs, beat until fully incorporated. (TX4, 15 sec)

Combine the flour, baking pwder, cinnamon and ginger and blend into the mixture (TX5, 20 sec). Fold in the grated apples and carrots. (TX4, 15 sec)

Butter a springform tin and dust with breadcrumbs.

Pour the batter into the tin, place on the middle shelf in the oven and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the frosting, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth.

Spread the frosting onto the top and sides of the cake, sprinkling with any remaining zest, if you wish.

Comments

[Maya]

Thank you so much for this recipe! :)

I've been meaning to bake a carrot cake for a while now because I've never tried it before (it's pretty much unknown where I come from). Your cake sounds and looks really great and given that I'm well stocked on apples at the moment, I'm going to give it a try very soon. Yummy!

[sandi @ the whistlestop cafe]

This looks delish!
I can see where the lime gives it a little zip.

[[email protected]]

I made this right when you posted this and it was scrumptiously delicious!! I didn`t have any carrots so I used sweet potatoes instead but it hit the spot.
Lovely Lovely Lovely. Thanks for the wonderful post. Keep posting!!

[Order Prozac Online]

Interesting Combination of carrot and apple. what would be it's tastes? Can't wait to make one. Thanks for sharing

[Kit]

I've still never made a carrot cake - it never used to be the English cake of choice when I was growing up - must be an American import! The sickly icing has always put me off, but I'll have a go at your recipe and see if I can convincce the kids to try it!

[Alanna]

My grandmother made carrot cake for me for my birthday every year -- and for many years after her death, I made it on her birthday. But somehow I managed to lose 'our' recipe and so am in pursuit of a new one. I love the addition of apples, also the lime in the icing, it's usually soooo sweet. Lovely, Johanna!

[Belle]

This looks delicious! I really like the sound of the lime and cream cheese frosting. What a lovely combination of tastes!

[Martina]

Hi Johanna, I waited for your new recipe for days. There it is! Thank you. I hope you are well.
Greetings from Linz, Martina

[Andy]

That looks great! Carrot cake is one of my favourite cake's ever! Never tried it with apple before but thinking about it, I reckon it will work really well.

Thanks for the inspiration!
Andy - http://onceuponathyme.wordpress.com/

[Ward]

Wow, this looks great. My 6 year old says he like Apple and if I could get him to help make this, he might even eat it. If he decides not to try it... all the more for me!!

[Mirjam]

This cake is very yummy :) I made it on saturday and it's still good. Bf asked me if I'm making a cake just for myself and I proudly said yes :D

[katie]

Carrot cake has to be one of my all time favourite things. This one looks fabulous and I love the idea of adding apple to it. It looks so moist and yummy

[Johanna]

sounds wonderful - I love carrot cake but have no delusions about healthiness - but it is a great way to use up carrots - and apples would give some extra flavour and moistness

[Mari-Liis]

that looks and sounds just wonderful! I made a similar cake couple of days ago: instead of carrots and apples used pumpkin and soft cheese with orange juice for frosting:)

[johanna]

good on you!!! yes, the cake is phantistic as it keeps for ages... especially if you dont have a large family (or are really good at hiding it ;-))

take care

johanna

[elizabeth]

I just love the look of this carrot cake recipe, especially as I have just got a Thermomix. I have been converting family favorites to TM and you have just saved me a lot of time. Thank you very much.

PS. I live in Australia so will probably wait 3 months for the glut of apples.

[Victoria]

Hi. I have to say that I agree with you about Carrot Cake in the UK. I LOVE carrot cake and order it whenever I can but it is always disappointing. I have an American recipe for carrot cake which is absolutely fantastic (complete with cream cheese frosting) but it has so much oil in it that I don't like to make it very often. Your recipe, with only 150 g butter seems to me to be much healthier. I look forward to making it. Thank you!!

[Kat]

yum yum. I'll definitely try this.

[Margaret]

Carrot cake is always a favourite in my house. I would never have thought about using apples in the cake mix. A slice of your cake would be very welcome!!!

[Stacey Snacks]

If anyone would please convert this recipe for me in US measurements, I would love them forever!
It just doesn't come out correctly, when I do them on my charts, and I don't want to mess it up....I am dying to make this cake!
Thank you! Stacey

[Debbie]

This looks divine. I can't wait to give this one a try. :)

[Gabriela Johnson]

Espero que me quede como a ti! esta delicioso!