Simplified Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Icing

This one has a long title. Before I share this recipe, I need to make a quick note:

• This is a VERY simplified carrot cake recipe. I didn't put ANY spices in it. My family HATES spices in dessert.
• It is also fairly mild (aka not-so-sweet). Again, due to a dietary restriction, I made this as less sweet as I possibly can. If you are a sweet tooth and have a chronic addiction to everything sweet, add more sugar as you like.

Okay, my Mama LOVES carrot cake. I decided to make one without baking, so I steamed the batter instead. The top is not crusty but the cake is very moist and fluffy. I love it.

Simplified Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Icing

Serving: 12-15 people (depending on the size of each slice, the smaller each slice, it obviously means the more people can have a share)

Carrot Cake Ingredients

• 3 large sized carrots (this will make up around 3-4 cups of shredded carrots)
• 100g of walnuts (roughly diced)
• 2 cups of flour (I used the plain type)
• 2 teaspoons of dark cocoa
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs (beaten)

Additional note: You can use pecan or any other nuts in substitute of walnuts. If you like spices, you can add ground nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon (any or in combination). The usual will be around 1 teaspoon each but you can add or lessen the amount as you like. Other ingredients that can be added are raisins and sultanas and any dried fruit such as cherries.

Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients

• 250g cream cheese (room temperature)
• 100g unsalted butter (I'm too lazy to use unsalted one, I used a salted butter. I'm a rebel that way. This also needs to be in room temperature)
• 1/4 cups of icing/confectioner sugar

Cooking Method

1. Sift through the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, dark cocoa) and add brown sugar. Mix well.
2. In another bowl, add chopped walnuts, grated carrots, vegetable oil and beaten eggs and mix well. This is the wet ingredients.
3. Prepare the steamer. I steamed my cake on a large wok, so I waited until the water is boiling. Alternatively, you can bake the cake instead at 170 to 180 degrees Celcius for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient's bowl and mix well. The batter should be quite thick and not runny. Put the batter into a 9-inch dish.
5. Put the cake dish onto the steamer and steam for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Ensure the boiling water is adequate. I added more boiling water at half time. Make sure to add boiling water and not cool tap water as this will drop the steamer's temperature. The stick/knife should come out clean with no sticky batter once the cake is fully steamed.
6. Put the cake on a cooling rack to cool before icing it. This will take around 1 to 2 hours.
7. While waiting for the cake to cool, prepare the icing by beating the cream cheese, butter and icing/confectioners sugar together. If you want the cream cheese icing to taste citrusy, you can add a few drops of lemon/lime/orange with a dash of their zest. You can also add 2 drops of vanilla essence.

As you can see from my cake slice, the cream cheese icing is melting. I couldn't wait so I immediately cut the cake and iced it. DO NOT DO THIS. The icing will melt. Pardon my impatience.

Anyway, this cake is pretty simple and it turns out soft and fluffy. I love the texture. My Mama, Baba and third sister seemed to enjoy the cake so I deemed this a success!