Carrot Cake Bread Recipen Biography
Source(google.com.pk)Not 10 seconds after I hit “publish” on Tuesday’s fall-toush salad, pretty much out of the clear blue sky, wherever it might be hiding, I simultaneously began craving carrot cake, feeling vaguely annoyed that we didn’t have any around (because I haven’t made it in six years, maybe?) and more pressingly for the breadth of this site, why I didn’t have what I’d consider a go-to recipe for the kind of hearty, craggy thud of a carrot cake loaf I want more of in my life. Sure, there’s a carrot cake cupcake/layer cake in the archives, but it’s a featherweight, for swirls of cream cheese frosting and birthday candle. I wanted breakfast/afternoon snack carrot cake, the kind that comes in thick slices and toasts well with salted butter. In my mind, they’re different. And my mind, as you can gather, ponders these things a lot.
So, I conferred with my husband — I don’t want to shock you, but I am not always the motivated, enthusiastic person and quite often just a little “yeah, please make it!” from the spouse or kid will trigger me into putting vague cooking notions into action — and he thought it was a great idea but he requested “none of that raisin/nuts/pineapple stuff in it.” Except, uh, he didn’t say “stuff.” Now, I know this might crush those of you who love a busy, cluttered carrot cake most of all, but I don’t think you’ll miss them here.
Because this here tastes to me like an October farmer’s market haul, with 3/4 pound fresh, grated carrots and fresh-pressed apple cider in here, olive oil replacing the usual butter (it’s dairy-free) and just the right amount of cinnamon/nutmeg/clove fall fragrance. It yields one towering, bronzed crown of a loaf with a deeply moist crumb (especially on day 2) and restrained sweetness. It’s weighty and moist, and will fill every millimeter of your loaf pan.
Whatever you do, do not make yourself a teeny tiny batch of (definitely not dairy-free) cream cheese frosting as a schmear. It’s best not to see how it melts right into a warm slice, lacing it with sweet tanginess or how this would indulge those that eat carrot cake mostly for the icing but only want to dabble in it at breakfast time. Just don’t, okay? I was better off not knowing.
One year ago: Apple Slab Pie
Two years ago: Apple Mosaic Tart with Salted Caramel
Three years ago: Cumin Seed Roasted Cauliflower with Yogurt and Pomegranate
Four years ago: Spiced Applesauce Cake
Five years ago: Jalapeno Cheddar Scones and Apple Cider Doughnuts
Six years ago: Acorn Squash Quesadillas with Tomatillo Salsa and My Family’s Noodle Kugel
Seven years ago: Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Eight years ago: Winter Squash Soup with Gruyere Croutons (that I think needs to be dinner tonight)
And for the other side of the world:
Six Months Ago: Dark Chocolate Coconut Macaroons and Baked Eggs with Spinach and Mushrooms
1.5 Years Ago: Ramp Pizza
2.5 Years Ago: Classic Ice Cream Sandwiches
3.5 Years Ago: Blackberry and Coconut Macaroon Tart and Heavenly Chocolate Cake Roll
Carrot Cake with Cider and Olive Oil
Updated recipe10/24/1In response to comments that the cake was coming out too wet/not baking through, I’ve made some adjustments. I’ve dropped the apple cider from the original 1 1/4 cups to 1 cup and the carrots (which I believe were the weighty culprit, as I was greedy to stuff this cake with almost an excess of them) from 2 cus to 1 1/2. My most recent loaf baked up wonderfully. I’m so sorry that some of you got off on the wrong foot with this cake. I hope this cures it, and gives this cake a chance to be your favorite again.
2 1/3 cups (290 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon (5 grams) table or fine sea salt
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder I prefer aluminum-free
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground or a bunch of gratings of whole nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup (120 ml) olive oil
3/4 cup (145 grams) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup cider 235 ml, see buying suggestions below
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups packed coarsely grated carrots from about 9 ounces (2 to 2 1/2 meaty/large or 4 to 5 slim; about 255 grams) whole carrots
Olive oil or nonstick cooking spray for baking pan
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9×5-inch loaf pan* with olive oil or a nonstick cooking spray. If yours is old and you’re nervous about the cake sticking, it cannot hurt to line yours with a fitted rectangle of parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, brown sugar, eggs, cider and vanilla. Stir grated carrots into wet ingredients until evenly coated, then stir wet ingredients into dry just until no floury bits remain.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out batter-free. Let cool in loaf pan for 20 to 30 minutes, then remove from pan and cool the rest of the way on a rack. Loaf should keep at room temperature for a few days, and longer in the fridge. It’s even more moist on the second day.
Whatever you do, definitely avoid making a cream cheese frosting-like spread whipped together from 4 ounces of softened cream cheese, 2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extra and 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, some of which can be replaced with honey or maple syrup but will make for a softer spread. It will unquestionably compromise this cake’s dairy-free status. It might be dangerously good.
Notes:
Apple cider: The cider I used here (sometimes called sweet or “soft” cider) is different from both apple juice and the hard, or alcoholic, fermented apple cider. It’s a fresh, unfiltered (it has sediment), raw apple juice — the juice literally pressed from fresh apples. The farmer’s market bottles are usually unpasteurized and must be refrigerated because they’re perishable. In the Northeast, I usually find it at farm stands and some grocery stores. I was convinced you couldn’t find this anywhere in the UK until I went there last year and a very dedicated shopper found a product called “cloudy” apple juice that was sold pasteurized but tasted remarkably like what we call apple cider, and from which we successfully made these heavenly caramels. Regardless of all this, I think a regular apple juice would work just fine here, it just has a less complex flavor.
Whole wheat variation: This cake is so dense and moist, I think it would be easy to start with a 1/3 to 1/2 swap of whole wheat or white whole wheat flour without compromising a whole lot. Plus, then it’s totally perfect for breakfast, right?
*Loaf pan vs. cake size: As I mentioned in the post, this loaf, once baked, uses the whole cake pan. My loaf pan is exactly 9×5-inches (top measurements, base is tapered in/smaller) and holds 6 1/4 cups liquid (to the brim). If yours is even a little smaller, I highly encourage baking a little of the batter off as muffins, rather than risk overflow. If you’re nervous, you can also use a foil-lined pan underneath the loaf pan to catch any messes.
When I told a pedantic friend I was baking banana bread, he got himself in a bit of a tizz about the name. Because, while bananas and bread are a time-honoured combination – who doesn't love a banana sandwich, filled with squidgy, starchy fruit and cold, salty butter? – banana bread is, strictly speaking, more of a loaf-shaped cake. (My theory is that categorising it as a bread rather than a cake is a key part of the recipe's popularity, lending it a spuriously healthy air and thus legitimising its consumption at any hour of the day – it seems to be popular on breakfast menus in the States, where it originated. If anyone has any more information on the dividing line between breads and cakes however, please do pass on your wisdom below.)
Unlike the more honestly named carrot cake, which has a surprisingly long history, banana bread as we know it doesn't appear in cookbooks until the 1930s. Food history website foodtimeline.org suggests that although it's sometimes attributed to thrifty housewives looking to use up overripe fruit, all evidence points to the fact it was developed by banana companies to promote their wares – indeed "in the 1950s banana bread was actively promoted in nationally syndicated television cooking shows". Jane Grigson writes in her Fruit Book that it appeared in this country after the war, when West Indian bananas returned to the shops – presumably once everyone had gorged themselves on the fruit in its natural state, they began to seek other ways to make the most of it.
But despite this somewhat chequered past, the taste doesn't lie. Banana bread is utterly delicious, the natural sweetness of the fruit lending itself perfectly to baking – and, while it may not be exactly a health food, it is at least better than a fried banana and peanut butter sandwich ...
he accepted wisdom is that, to make good banana bread, you need bananas so ripe they practically dance into the oven of their own accord. Marcus Wareing specifically calls for "overripe" specimens in his recipe, but trawling through pages and pages of banana bread chat on US food forum egullet, I find numerous posts opining that, as k8memphis puts it, "while the charm of banana bread is that you are able to use up forgotten over-ripe bananas, this should never have become the gold standard".
I make Wareing's recipe with fruit that is almost black, the America's Test Kitchen version with pure yellow fruit (anything with a hint of green seems a step too far) and the rest with spotted brown bananas. The overripe versions are easier to mash, but don't give a more intense flavour once they're cooked. Banana bread may be a good way to use up old fruit, but it's not an absolute must.
Charles Campion purées his bananas in a food processor in his method in Fifty Recipes to Stake Your Life On. Nigella, Wareing, the Hummingbird Bakery and pastry chef Claire Clark mash them "to a pulp", and the America's Test Kitchen recipe (billed by one fan as "the world's best banana bread - no kidding!") calls for them to be coarsely smashed, cautioning "don't purée – the banana needs to be chunky".
Campion's bread has a moist, almost gooey texture and an intense banana flavour, but I like the occasional sweet chunks of fruit in the America's Test Kitchen recipe, a few of which have also made it into the cakes containing mashed, rather than puréed fruit. I also prefer the lighter, fluffier texture of the dryer cakes – a mixture of coarse and finely mashed seems to be the ideal solution.
British banana bread recipes tend to call for baking powder, either directly, as in Nigella, Clark, Wareing and the Hummingbird's recipes, or in the form of self-raising flour, as in Campion's bread. America's Test Kitchen and Martha Stewart use only bicarbonate of soda – while Nigella and the Hummingbird add that in too for good measure. As Clark's recipe is the lightest and fluffiest, I'm sticking with baking powder.
Wareing uses strong bread flour, rather than the more common plain variety. Strong flour has a higher gluten content, which gives a better rise, and his cake does indeed have large pockets of air in it but it's not particularly impressive in the height department.
White caster sugar is the most popular choice, but Clark goes for soft dark brown sugar, suggesting that if the flavour is too strong to suit your taste you can always do as the the Hummingbird does and substitute soft light brown sugar. I do find the dark brown sugar a little bit too much here – this cake's meant to be about the banana – but I like the caramel colour and flavour the light brown sugar brings to the table.
Campion and Wareing use softened butter, while Nigella, America's Test Kitchen and the Hummingbird melt it to a liquid before use. Clark, meanwhile, eschews it entirely in favour of vegetable oil in her recipe in Indulge, which, along as you skip the optional cream cheese frosting, makes hers a dairy-free option. Oil gives the cake a fluffy texture, while the cakes with butter are richer and slightly heavier. If you prefer a very light banana bread (or are lactose-intolerant) go for oil instead, but the softness of the butter wins me over.
America's Test Kitchen uses buttermilk in their mix, presumably to activate the bicarbonate of soda, and Campion adds a little milk. Both cakes are quite damp – I don't think the batter needs the extra liquid.
Method
With the exception of Campion's super easy bung-it-all-in-the-food-processor method, all my recipes fall into either the standard muffin or cake camps. For the former, the wet ingredients (eggs, melted butter or oil, banana) are mixed, and then quickly folded into the dry flour, sugar and raising agent, while Wareing deploys the creaming method, beating together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy before adding the eggs and dry ingredients. This, in theory, allows more air into the mixture, but actually his cake is one of the densest I bake.
Nigella, Campion, America's Test Kitchen and Wareing all add vanilla extract to their batters, with Wareing throwing in some almond extract for good measure. The Hummingbird goes down a quite different route, flavouring their bread with cinnamon and ginger instead, while Clark keeps hers resolutely plain. The almond complements the flavour of the fruit, but is a little overwhelming – the vanilla blends in better, but, after tasting Clark's recipe, I don't think the bananas need either. The Hummingbird's spices also work well, but again, they block the flavour of the fruit, giving the whole thing rather a festive feel.
Nuts are a popular addition to banana bread – I love the crunch they provide, although I prefer Nigella, Wareing and America's Test Kitchen's walnuts to Clark's pecans; the slight bitterness is a good foil for the sweetness of the fruit. Nigella also throws in bourbon-soaked sultanas, which, although delicious, distract from the banana flavour. A good banana bread should be moist enough not to require extra juiciness.
350g ripe bananas peeled weight
180g plain flour, plus extra for the tin
2½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
160g soft, light brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 tbsp melted butter, plus extra to grease, slightly cooled
50g walnuts, roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 170C. Put two-thirds of the peeled banana chunks into a bowl and mash until smooth. Roughly mash the remainder and stir in gently.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, and grease and lightly flour a baking tin about
Put the sugar, eggs and melted butter in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to whisk them until pale and slightly increased in volume. Fold in the bananas and the dry ingredients until you can see no more flour, then fold in the walnuts.
Spoon into the tin and bake for about an hour until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out on to a rack to cool completely.
Banana bread – what's the secret of this johnny-come-lately's success, and do you prefer the moist, squidgy sort, or the light, fluffy variety? Is it a teatime treat, or a weekend breakfast in your household, and can anyone explain if it's a bread or a cake.
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Carrot Cake Bread Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Carrot Cake Bread Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Carrot Cake Bread Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Carrot Cake Bread Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Carrot Cake Bread Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
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