CARROT CAKE RECIPE No 1 ~ Neal's Yard Wholefood Cookbook

Carrot Cake Recipe ~ from Neal's Yard Wholefood Cook Book, Rachel Haigh,











Way back in April the impetus for making this cake was to celebrate Hubby's birthday. This isn't by any means my first cake, but it was my debut carrot cake recipe. I thought that I'd broaden my search for the perfect carrot cake, by trying out different recipes.

When I worked in Central London, I used to buy this carrot cake from Neal's Yard Bakery, sadly no more, and remember it as being rather good. I picked their wholefood cookbook up some years later in a remainder outlet, and some of its recipes are well established favourites.

This first attempt at the recipe was OK, but wasn't quite the archetypal carrot cake I remember it being. Rather than do a single cake, I split the mix into two sandwich tins. I had to adjust the baking time, but not by quite enough, so the cake got slightly over cooked, and hence a tad dry. The recipe has sultanas and walnuts in it, which is good from a moisture and texture point of view. The mix has added desiccated coconut which creates an odd taste and texture on the palate, a bit like having flecks of rice in it. Maybe freshly ground coconut would be better, or reduce the amount of coconut, or soak the coconut before adding to the cake mix.

This was my first attempt at a cream cheese topping, and though slightly on the runny side, the flavour of it was just fine and what the cake needed in order to offset its mildly dry edge. Perhaps it might be worth giving this another try, with some adjustments on another occasion.

CARROT CAKE RECIPE SCORE ~ 5/8




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