Old-Fashioned Portuguese Raw Carrot Cake with Cinnamon

This cake nearly did me in. I made it at a friend’s house, and the problem is that since it uses raw carrots, I really should have drained and squeezed them well before folding them into the batter. I skipped that step, the carrots went in far too wet, and a cake that should have baked perfectly in 30 to 40 minutes ended up taking almost 2 hours in the oven.

Also in Japan they don’t bake much at home, so her oven was not the most potent thing, not really kinda like a better version of a grill in a microwave, so yeah it was a hard bake, and take it from me, always pay attention to the recipe, even the little steps that seem like they don’t matter.

But, once it finally came out, though, it was worth the wait. This is a super moist and delicious carrot cake that, once baked, has a wonderfully rustic look and taste, the kind of homey cake that doesn’t need to be fancy to be a hit. Its something between a more traditional Portuguese carrot cake and a more spiced American carrot cake.

And because its a vegetable cake its super moist and the crumb stayed soft and moist even after the longer bake in lower temperature. So don’t panic if yours takes a bit longer than expected, just keep an eye on it, cover with foil if its browning too much on the top and trust the toothpick, not the clock. Lets check the recipe!

Old-Fashioned Portuguese Raw Carrot Cake with Cinnamon

Servings: 12
Time: 1hr 30mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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I love this combination of the natural sweetness of the carrots and sugar in a cake, it just works and it makes most commercial cakes pale in comparison!

Ingredients

Eggs – 4 (Large)
Carrots – 6 (Medium)
Sugar – 300g
Self-Rising Flour – 300g
Baking Powder – 1 teaspoon
Sunflower Oil – 120ml
Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
Butter – For Greasing
Flour – For Dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (356°F) and prepare a round cake pan by greasing it with butter and dusting it with flour.

Peel the carrots and chop them finely into a food processor, blitz into a pulp, then, let them drain in a colander and squeeze them well until they are as dry as possible (make sure not to skip this).

In a bowl, combine the eggs and sugar and whisk well until the mixture becomes creamy.
Add the oil and cinnamon to the bowl and whisk again, then, add the carrots to the mixture and mix briefly.

Finally, sift in the flour and baking powder and fold everything together using a spoon.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake, it should take about 45 minutes to cook through. When you think it is done, insert a toothpick into the center, if it comes out clean, the cake is baked. Enjoy!

Notes & Tips: I don’t have a photo of a slice because it was for a party and yes, I… We WEEEE were late ;D unfortunately fashionably late doesn’t work in Japan!

Squeeze the carrots dry, seriously. This is the single most important step in the whole recipe. Wet carrots release moisture as they bake, which is exactly what throws off your cooking time.

Grate or pulse the carrots finely rather than leaving them in chunky pieces, it helps them cook evenly into the batter and gives the cake that nice rustic texture without big raw bits.

Don’t trust the clock, trust the toothpick. Ovens vary, and if your carrots hold even a little extra moisture, your bake time can stretch well past 45 minutes. Start checking around the 35 to 40 minute mark and keep testing every 10 minutes after that.

If the top is browning too fast but the center is still wet, loosely tent the cake with foil and let it keep baking low and slow.

Room temperature eggs whip up fluffier with the sugar, which helps give the cake a lighter crumb despite all that carrot.

Do note that this is an adaptation, the original Portuguese recipe uses margarine or shortening, but i don’t like like it so much, so I used sunflower oil instead, its not the same, but its close enough

Want to dress it up? A simple cream cheese frosting works wonderfully here too, not just the chocolate ganache suggested in every single carrot cake recipe in Portugal hehehehe.

This recipe for Old-Fashioned Portuguese Raw Carrot Cake with Cinnamon was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Bolo de Cenoura Crua com Canela foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.