Banana bread is one of the easiest cakes to make at home but with the right recipe, carrot cake is just as easy.
While many call for a long list of ingredients and lengthy methods to get the texture just right, swapping eggs and butter for one ingredient can make for a much simpler cake.
A recipe that went viral on social media uses condensed milk to simplify the cake down to just four staples.
First shared on a home budgeting page on Facebook, the recipe is “quick and easy”, plus “a good way to use up carrots in the fridge”, according to a blogger at Practical Parenting.
The sweetened milk is the ideal egg substitute and means that there’s less sugar required to balance the sponge itself.
Ingredients
- Two cups of self-raising flour (240g)
- Two cups of grated carrots (245g)
- One tin of condensed milk
- 100g pecan nuts, walnuts or sultanas
Optional cream cheese frosting
- 60g softened butter
- 500g icing sugar (sieved)
- 250g cream cheese
- 80ml lemon juice
Carrot cake recipe
Making the cake is so easy, all that’s needed is a standard-sized loaf tin and a large mixing bowl.
Start by preheating the oven to 180C, then grease and line the loaf tin with baking parchment to cover the base and sides. Next, grate the carrots and place them in a clean tea towel, fold it over and lightly squeeze out the excess moisture.
Weigh out the flour, and condensed milk then add both to the mixing bowl along with the carrots.
Mix everything to form the cake batter, then stir in the nuts or sultanas if using. A mixture of the two works well just measure out 50g of each.
Stir them into the mixture then pour everything into the lined loaf tin. Bake for 45 minutes at 180C until a skewer comes out clean.
Once cooked, remove the tin from the oven and leave the cake to cool for a while. If using, move onto the cream cheese frosting.
Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add the softened butter and beat for 30 seconds to one minute until combined.
Add lemon juice and the icing sugar, and continue to mix until blended. When the cake has fully cooled, spread the frosting on top.
