Carrot cake is one of the easiest desserts to bake from scratch, but you can improve this simple homebaked treat by adding one strange ingredient.
Stefani Pollack, a recipe developer and founder of the Cupcake Project, swears that adding pineapple to carrot cake greatly improves the texture.
She said: “There are two camps in the world of carrot cake – pro-pineapple and anti-pineapple. I am 100% team pineapple. Pineapple in carrot cake doesn’t make the cake taste like pineapple; rather, it adds more moisture.”
It may seem unusual, but adding pineapple to carrot cake adds a natural juiciness that lightens the cake to make it fluffier while also stopping it from drying out.
You will not be able to taste the pineapple but the natural sugars in the fruit will enhance the flavour of the cake to make it sweeter without having to add any more sugar.
Recipe
To begin, preheat the oven to 180C. Grease two 20cm round cake pans and line with baking paper.
Place the cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl, except for the coconut oil, butter, eggs and flour.
Mix everything together until thoroughly combined. Then, stir in the butter and oil.
Add each egg one at a time, and make sure to stir well after adding each one. Next, fold the flour into the batter in two batches, and mix it until it is just combined.
Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake pans, then place in the oven.
Bake the cake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
Once the cake is ready, remove it from the oven and place it on a cooling rack to cool completely.
To make the cream cheese frosting, stir the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.
Then, mix in the icing sugar, adding only a little at a time. You can add more or less until you get your desired consistency. Then, add the vanilla extract.
Take the cakes out of the pans and peel off any baking paper stuck to the bottom. Use an offset spatula to spread a thick layer of frosting on top of one cake.
Sandwich the two cakes together and add frosting to the second cake. If there is any remaining frosting, pipe rosettes onto the cake.
Your simple yet mouthwatering carrot cake will then be ready to serve.
