Carrot Cake

Shredding Carrots by Hand

When I was growing up, my mother made carrot cake in the microwave!  Better yet, it was good carrot cake, with a nice tender crumb, lightly spiced and full of carrots, and it only took 7-9 mins to cook!  We always made it in the same round glass baking dish.  If I were to see that dish again today, I'm sure it would remind me only of the carrot cake.

Carrot cake is gaining popularity in Paris, and I find this both surprising and not.  The French adore Carrot Rape, or a salad made just of shredded carrots and a simple dressing.  However, they are not always a fan of the cake sucre (sweet cakes) made with vegetables.  For example, when I offered my Zucchini bread to my Laduree co-workers last summer, many refused to try it because of the idea that it was sweet with something that is normally savory. Many American/English style cafes are now offering generous cupckes or mammoth slices of Gateau aux Carrottes and the French seem to love it! Most often it is slathered with the requisite cream cheese frosting- thought the frosting is not always made with the true Philadelphia Cream cheese. At Rose, where I had been working, we often used Carre Frais, a spreadable French cheese with a not quite as smooth texture, but the flavor closely resembled good old Philly.



I'm in the process of testing recipes for a new work venture here in Paris....once again more on that later...  and one menu item they want is Carrot Cake.  I decided to revisit my Mom's microwave recipe and give  it a few touches of my own.

Carrot Cupcake

 Traditional Carrot cake using Oil as the fat.  The original recipe from my Mom also called for a little sour cream or plain yogurt.  With Creme Fraiche being so available here in France, I use that in my recipe now.  If you don't have access to Creme Fraiche, substitute with yogurt or sour cream.   Even though I have a microwave, I went the old fashioned route and baked it in the oven.  I always felt the microwave technique made the cake feel a bit oily, baking seems to reduce that result.   Of course, if you're in a hurry you can still pour the batter into a glass baking dish and microwave for 7-9 minutes till the cake springs back when touched. I didn't include nuts in this recipe, but Carrot cake can always be improved with some chopped Walnuts or pecans, I just didn't have any on hand when I made these. 

 Here you go:

Jenni's Carrot Cake

Makes about 6 small cupcakes, perfect for a small French oven!




3/4 Cup Finely grated Carrots
Zest of Half an Orange

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1 Egg
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/8 cup Creme Fraiche

Preheat Oven to 200 degrees Celcuis or 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Sift all dry ingredients together and set aside.  With a whisk or hand mixer, mix together egg and sugar till pale and slightly thick, the slowly pour in vegetable oil while mixing, whisk in Creme Fraiche till the mixture is smooth. Add the Carrots and Orange zest and mix till evenly distributed.  Still in dry ingredients, do not over mix.  Divide batter into greased muffin pans or paper lined, filling each 2/3 full.  

Bake 20 mins or till cake springs back to the touch. 

Enjoy plain or make some Cream cheese frosting if you prefer.