Orange Carrot Olive Oil Cake

This is a surprisingly “healthy” cake as far as cakes go.  There isn’t a lot of flour, there is no dairy fat, the only saturated fat is from the eggs.  The carrot is blended with the olive oil and orange juice so it isn’t much like a traditional carrot cake.  It is obviously very moist and won’t dry out quickly at all with the olive oil in it.  It is actually really delicious and all gone now.

I believe I need to bake cakes on one rack lower in my oven.  the bottom of the cake isn’t as brown as it should be.  The relative lack of bottom heat likely explains the bit of compression of the crumb at the bottom of the cake.

INGREDIENTS

Yield:

One 9-inch cake (8 servings)

• Nonstick cooking spray or butter, for greasing
• 1⅓ cups/175 grams all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
•  
• 5 medium carrots (about 10 ounces/300 grams), peeled and roughly chopped (about 2 cups)
• 1 cup/210 grams extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 orange, zested and juiced (¼ cup juice)
• Powdered sugar, to serve

PREPARATION

• Step 1
  Arrange a rack in the center of the oven. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9-inch springform pan, cake pan or cast-iron skillet with nonstick spray or butter, and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper.
• Step 2
  In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cardamom, salt and baking soda together. Make a well in the middle and set aside.
• Step 3
  In a blender, combine the carrots, olive oil, granulated sugar, eggs, orange zest and orange juice; blend until smooth. Pour into the middle of the well of the dry ingredients. Starting in the center, use a whisk to slowly incorporate the flour mixture until there is no visible flour.
• Step 4
  Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and immediately place the cake onto the middle rack. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the center comes out clean when tested with a toothpick.
• Step 5
  Let the cake cool on a wire rack for about 1 hour, then remove from the pan. Before serving, dust with powdered sugar.

My index of bakes.