My father is a vegetarian, and my mother loves fish. When they got married, they made a pact. No cooking non-veg at home, but dad would take her out to a restaurant whenever she had cravings, or parcel some of it home.

Now, in those days, families would frequently exchange food items, and it was tradition to never return a box empty. This carrot cake has been a family trademark for decades, and in those days, Indian women rarely made cake. Eventually what happened was, every family that made good fish, would send us fish fry and request for carrot cake in return. Win-win for all!

So, here’s the carrot-cake family’s carrot cake recipe.

Time taken: 1 hour
Makes one 9″ cake

Ingredients

2 cups plain or whole wheat flour
2 cups white or brown sugar
2 cups grated carrot
1½ cups oil
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp clove powder
2 tsp cardamom powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F and oil a 9″ cake tin.

Put the flour, salt, baking powder and spice powders in a bowl and stir well with a whisk to remove any lumps.

Mix oil and sugar together, stir for a couple of minutes

Add the eggs one by one, stirring well after each addition. Beat well.

Add the carrots, and the flour in parts, until well combined. Do not beat anymore, just gentle fold these in.

Pour into the greased cake tin and bake in a preheated oven for 40-50 min. When a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean, you know it is done.

Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top using a sieve, or frost with sweetened cream cheese.

Note: As this cake is dense and rich, you can easily substitute the white flour for wheat flour, without much compromise.

Serving suggestion

This cake tastes even better the next day.

If you haven’t frosted the cake, serve it with custard and chopped bananas and grapes. The combination is delicious.