Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If you find that the sun on your skin doesn't quite warm you to the core, or the rain pattering on the roof outside your bedroom window sounds a bit too much like your insides, my darlings... it's time to put on an apron, pull out the sugar jar, and bake yourself a carrot cake. With cream cheese frosting, lots of it.

Carrot cake

• 280g grated carrots
• 50g chopped pecans
• 300g soft light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 300ml sunflower oil
• 300g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 8" round pans with butter and baking paper
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside
3. In the large mixing bowl of your stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sunflower oil
4. Beat in the flour mixture until just combined
5. Stir in the grated carrots and chopped pecans
6. Divide the batter evenly between the two baking pans and bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted at an angle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely

Indecisive Muffins

With five productive hours left to my Sunday evening (productive hours meaning those before I have to get ready for bed and work...) I decided to whip up a batch of blueberry muffins for breakfast, and also to bring a few with me to the office for my workmates. However, my mum was craving banana bread too... and so I thought I would just make a carrot banana bread first, then blueberry muffins later.

Though having spent the majority of my weekend in the kitchen, I kind of wanted an extra hour to watch some telly before sleep... so halfway through making the banana bread batter, I decided to add in blueberries, bit more flour, and just make a hybrid of the two wishes. I don't entirely know what I was thinking when I added some of the stuff, but none of the ingredients seemed that bad as standalone ingredients so they couldn't be too bad put together, right?

Absolutely.

So this Monday morning, I popped one of the cooled muffins back in the oven for about 5 minutes while I blow-dried my hair and had myself a nice warm muffin on the way to work. Yummy!

Banana-Blueberry-Carrot Muffins (That's 3 of your 5-a-day!) 
Yield: 12 medium sized muffins

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup soft packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup buttermilk 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup ripe mashed bananas 
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line the muffin pan
2. Beat the vegetable oil and sugar in a large bowl, then beat in the eggs, vanilla and buttermilk
3. Add the bananas and beat until incorporated
4. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon then gradually add into the wet mixture
5. Stir in the carrots and blueberries
6. Pour the batter into the muffin cups about 3/4 of the way up, then sprinkle with the topping and bake for 20 minutes. Leave them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack

Topping

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix with your fingertips until they resemble course crumbs. Or use a food processor if you have one to minimize the mess and time taken

Carrot Banana Bread

It's been a while since my last post, mostly due to the fact that this month has been slightly off the charts cray-cray in real life (it never fails to amuse me how we refer to our daily lives as Real Life, and the internet as our fictional playground), and also in part because I've been lazy. I've baked up a few things, however most of them were repeat recipes.

I went through a Banana Bread phase over the past two weeks, trying to recreate the yummy one sold at Boost Juice, and I tried a few different recipes but found one in this book of Quick Breads I have lying about at home that I really like. It's simple, tasty and just slightly different.

Mainly cos it's not entirely banana bread...

Carrot Banana Bread recipe

• 1/3 cup melted butter (recipe calls for vege oil, but I like butter!)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup ripe mashed bananas (I used 3 medium sized bananas that had gone soft and spotty)
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat your oven to 180C, and grease your 5"x3" loaf pan
2. Beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking sofa, salt and cinnamon
5. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the mashed bananas
6. Stir in the carrots and pecans with a spatula
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, start checking after about 40 minutes. I took my first batch out when the toothpick came out clean, but it gave me a muffin-ny/cakey texture as opposed to the drier bread texture that I was going for
8. Cool the pan before removing the bread onto the wire, cool completely before storing or gobbling

Oh man, I couldn't wait too long so I sliced off a hunk the moment it was cool enough to touch and slathered on a dollop of salted butter... it was my moment of ultimate indulgence, soft, slightly crumbly bread made so moist by the carrots...

The downside to this was when I got home from work the next day, hoping to have another slice of bread... it was all gone.

Sad face,

Nabs