"This is a cake with a lot of character, and hits every note I like in a carrot cake square-on: plenty of texture from coconut and walnuts, moisture from applesauce and freshly grated carrots, and well spiced with a little added savouriness from teff flour. The cake is sandwiched with the classic accompaniment of cream cheese frosting, which I like on the tangy side. In America we tend to go for yellow or chocolate cakes for celebrations, while in much of Europe, including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, carrot cake is the most popular. Carrot cake has been made for centuries; a recipe for it dates back to A Booke of Cookrye, published in 1591, where it was more like a pudding. "
Make Tartine Bakery’s teff carrot cake
This recipe for teff carrot cake from the updated edition of Tartine Bakery's bestselling cookbook has got to be one of the world's most delicious ways to get in one of your five-a-day
Eric Wolfinger
Serves 10
Preparation time 30 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour 40
Ingredients
For the cake mix
- 250g raisins
- 200g granulated sugar
- 180g coconut or brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 450g grated carrots
- 240ml milk
- 180 ml olive oil
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 150g teff flour
- 70g rice flour
- 70g potato starch
- 2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 200g toasted heaping walnuts
- 40g unsweetened shredded coconut
For the cream cheese frosting
- 225g cream cheese, at room temperature
- 85g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 375g confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°. Butter the bottom and sides of two 23 cm round cake pans with unsalted butter and line the bottoms with parchment paper circles. In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water. Plump for 10 minutes, then drain and set aside.
- To make the cake, in a large bowl using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and on medium speed, whip the granulated sugar, coconut sugar, and eggs until thick and light in colour, 4 minutes. When you lift up the whisk, the beaten egg mixture should fall back into the bowl in ribbons. Add the carrots, milk, olive oil, and zest, and mix well to combine.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the teff flour, rice flour, potato starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to the egg mixture and, using a rubber spatula, fold just until combined. Fold in the raisins, walnuts, and coconut.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake until a knife inserted into the centres comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. To unmold, run a small knife around the edges of the pan, and then invert the cake onto the wire rack and turn right-side up. Let cool completely, then transfer the layers to the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes before frosting.
- To make the frosting, using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until fluffy and light, 3 minutes. Add the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and salt and mix until smooth.
- Spread half of the icing on top of one of the cake layers, cover with the second layer, and smooth the remainder of the icing over the top. Serve at room temperature and store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Recipe from Tartine; photography by Eric Wolfinger. Published by Abrams & Chronicle.
