Now that spring has arrived, many people may be in the mood for carrot cake, and it is incredibly simple to make it yourself at home with the right ingredients. Eb Gargano, a cook and founder of Easy Peasy Foodie has shared that the key secret to making cakes “light and moist” is to add olive oil to the mixing bowl.
She said: “The olive oil in this cake gives it a wonderful moist texture and an extra depth to the flavour – it doesn’t taste at all of olive oil, just richer and more delicious! However, if you are not a fan of olive oil, you might prefer to use sunflower or rapeseed (canola) oil instead.”
It may seem like a strange ingredient, but olive oil is a rich liquid fat that does not solidify like butter, another cooking fat.
This helps the cake maintain the same moisture level once it cools down from cooking, so it has a much lighter and fluffy texture.
Using olive oil instead of butter will also help the cake not dry out. It will stay fresh and flavourful for much longer.
How to make a fluffier carrot cake with olive oil
Cake ingredients
- 350g of self-raising flour
- 325g of dark brown sugar
- 250g of carrots (grated)
- 75g of walnuts (roughly chopped up)
- Two teaspoons of cinnamon
- Four tablespoons of milk
- Four medium eggs
- 200ml of olive oil
Frosting ingredients (optional)
- 180g of full-fat cream cheese
- 30g of icing sugar
- 25g of walnuts
Instructions
To begin, preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan or gas mark 4). Grease a cake tin and line the bottom and sides of the tin with greaseproof baking paper.
In a large bowl add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, chopped-up walnuts and grated carrots. Then, mix everything together. In a separate jug, add the eggs, olive oil and milk, then mix together.
Gradually pour the wet ingredients into the jug and the dry ingredients into the bowl. Stir as you pour until the flour is completely incorporated.
Tip the cake batter into the prepared cake tin, then place it in the oven. Cook for roughly one hour to one hour and 15 minutes or until a tooth comes out clean from the middle of the cake.
Once the cake is ready, remove it from the oven, and you should have a mouthwatering, fluffy carrot cake to enjoy.
If you wish to make cream cheese frosting, simply mix the cream cheese and icing sugar together in a bowl, then spread it on top of the cake. Use any leftover chopped-up walnuts to decorate.