Eggless Carrot Cake ~ Butterless, Low Fat & Healthy

Carrot cake is one of the first few cakes I baked. During those beginning days, I stick to the recipe and never attempted to make any changes. Then after few attempts and reading many more recipes in various blogs, I started tweaking the recipe. This recipe is a result of my attempt to use whole wheat flour, low fat, healthy cake.

Ingredients

•  Wheat flour - 1 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Grated carrots - 1 cup
• Refined Oil - 1/3 cup (I used rice bran)
• Buttermilk - 3/4 cup
• Vanilla essence - 2 tspn
• All spice powder -1/2 tspn  (Combo of cinnamon,star anise, cloves powdered together)
• Baking powder - 1 tspn
• Baking soda - 1 tspn
• Chopped nuts/tutti fruity - 1/2 cup

 Method

Sieve together maida, baking powder, soda and spice powder. Add oil, sugar and buttermilk. Whisk until its smooth and is well combined. Now fold the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing with each addition.

Transfer the batter to a greased and dusted cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 

 

The cake is very soft and moist. Since the cake on its own is very sweet, there isn't any need for frosting.  I baked one batch in an aluminium foil box to be taken for a friend.

 

 

 

Carrot Kheer/Payasam

Red, juicy carrots are in season and these varieties are prefect for Gajar ka halwa. And the weather is best for warm desserts. Another warm dessert is the delicious kheer. Its very easy to make and no grating involved as in halwa. It gets done with minimal effort. Here is how I make it.

You need

• Carrot - 4, long ones
• Milk - 500 ml
• Sugar- 1/2 cup
• Ghee - 1 tspn
• Raisins,Cashews - 1 tblspn
• Cardamon powder -1/4 tspn

 

Method

 

Wash and peel the carrots. Cut into half inch thick roundels. Cook the carrots with 1/4 cup of milk in the pressure cooker. Leave the cooked carrots to cool. Puree the carrots not so very fine. Boil the milk and stir in the carrot puree. Cook till the milk+carrot mixture thickens. Add sugar and it will thin the kheer. Boil till it starts thickening. Add roasted cashews, raisins and cardamom powder. Remove from fire. Serve warm or chilled as you wish.

 

P.S - Grinding some cashewnuts along with carrots will give a more rich and creamier kheer.