Carrot chocolate chip cake with lemon cream cheese frosting

Carrot chocolate chip cake with lemon cream cheese frosting

This delectable wintery cake is packed with a lot of cinnamon and ginger giving the carrots a festive feel. The brown sugar and chocolate chips give it a beautiful crumb.

What you will need:

• 350 gm carrots, grated
• 150 gm chocolate chips
• 200 gm flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
• 3 eggs
• 150 ml vegetable oil
• 150 gm brown sugar
• 60 gm curd hung to drain excess water

For frosting :

• 125 gm cream cheese, cold
• 50 gm unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 300 gm icing sugar, sifted

What to do:

1. In a bowl sift together flour + baking powder + cinnamon.
2. In another large bowl, whisk brown sugar and oil together.
3. Add the eggs one at a  time incorporating fully before adding the next one.
4. To this mixture add the hung curd, vanilla essence and grated ginger. Mix well.
5. Add flour mixture to it and mix it till you see no streaks of flour.
6. Gently fold in grated carrots and chocolate chips.
7. Line the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch pan with parchment paper and butter the sides.
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C for 40-45 minutes.
9. For frosting, mix all the ingredients together til it forms a smooth paste. Refrigerate it for 2 hours before using.
10. Once the cake cools down completely, frost it with the cream cheese frosting and decorate with chopped pistachios or rose petals.

Notes:

1. Instead of chocolate chips you can use chopped and toasted walnuts or pecans or even cashews.
2.  Carrot cakes are usually moist and denser because of the carrots. But to check if it is baked, insert a skewer and check if any batter sticks to it. If yes, bake a little more.
3. Especially for this cake I felt that you should not skip the frosting. It gives a very delicate balanced flavour to the carrot cake.

Cheers!

Rutvika