South African carrot cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 375 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 280 g oil, neutral, not olive oil
• 180 g flour
• 8 g cinnamon
• 8 g baking soda
• 4 g baking powder
• 4 g salt
• 500 ml carrot(s), finely grated, approx. 3 – 4 pieces
• 150 g coconut flakes
• 150 g pineapple, coarsely grated, squeezed through a sieve
• 150 g walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
• 60 g butter
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 200 g powdered sugar
• 1 pack of cream cheese
• 50 g walnuts or pecans, whole

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest period approx. 2 days; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 2 days 1 hour 45 minutes

with pineapple and coconut flakes

Whisk the sugar and vanilla sugar with the eggs, then add the oil while stirring. Mix the flour with the cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and add spoonfuls to the mixing bowl. Finely grate the carrots (to avoid confusion: 500 ml is about 3-4 carrots), add the coconut flakes and the very dry pineapple while stirring, and finally the nuts. Follow the original recipe with pecans, but I usually use walnuts due to availability. Bake at 180°C for one hour with conventional heat. Once cooled, cover with icing. Put 60 g of butter (preferably straight from the refrigerator) in a bowl with the vanilla sugar and powdered sugar. Then, while stirring, add enough cream cheese until creamy, about 100-150 g, if desired. Top the finished cake with the nuts. I like to caramelize these over low heat in a pan with 1 tablespoon of honey and a very small amount of butter. The cake tastes best if it’s been refrigerated for about 3-4 days before eating. At least 2 days would be ideal, though. We got this recipe on a trip to South Africa (Ladismith) and have baked it dozens of times since then.