Wholemeal Low-fat Moist Carrot Cake (Delia Smith)

If you have read my blog previously, you'll notice what a big fan of carrot I am. This is the fourth carrot cake recipe I've posted since I started blogging less than  a year back. I've made: Healthier Carrot Walnut Cakes, Pumpkin Seed Carrot Banana Cake, Pineapple Carrot Cake and now this wholemeal version. 

I love trying out all carrot cake recipes as long as it doesn't use butter. I am so glad that my favourite cake can be made healthier and guilt-free so that I can actually make it as an everyday cake. 

Delia Smith's carrot cake recipe is as wonderfully delicious and moist as the other recipes I've made earlier. The best part about this recipe is that it uses wholemeal flour and I managed to substitute some of the oil with low-fat yoghurt without affecting the texture of the cake. The syrup glaze added a slight citrus after-taste to the cake which made it extra delicious.

This is for Cook like a Star, Delia Smith blog hop event, hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Grab the HTML Code for the event here.

This is for Made with Love Mondays by Javelin Warrior.

Wholemeal Low-fat Moist Carrot Cake (7 inch square)

A Delia Smith Recipe

• 6 oz (175 g) dark brown soft sugar (I used 90 g)
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 4 fl oz (120 ml) sunflower oil (I used 70 ml oil, 50 ml low-fat yoghurt)
• 7 oz (200 g) wholemeal self-raising flour (I used wholemeal flour and added 2 tsp of baking powder to it when sifting)
• 1½ level teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 3 rounded teaspoons mixed spice (I used a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg)
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 7 oz (200 g) carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
• 6 oz (175 g) sultanas

For the topping:

•  9 oz (250 g) Quark (skimmed-milk soft cheese) (I used low-fat cream cheese)
•  ¾ oz (20 g) caster sugar
•  2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•  1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus a little extra for dusting

For the syrup glaze:

•  juice of ½ small orange
•  1 dessertspoon lemon juice
•  1½ oz (40 g) dark brown soft sugar

Method

• Preheat oven to 170*C.
• Begin by whisking the 6 oz (175 g) sugar, eggs and oil together in a bowl using an electric hand whisk for 2-3 minutes. 
• Then sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the mixed spice into the bowl, tipping in all the bits of bran that are left in the sieve. 
• Now stir all this together, then fold in the orange zest, carrots and sultanas. After that pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until it is well risen and feels firm and springy to the touch when lightly pressed in the centre. 
• While the cake is cooking, make the topping by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl until light and fluffy, then cover with clingfilm and chill for 1-2 hours or until needed. Now you need to make the syrup glaze, and to do this whisk together the fruit juices and sugar in a bowl. 
• Then, when the cake comes out of the oven, stab it all over with a skewer and quickly spoon the syrup over as evenly as possible. Now leave the cake on one side to cool in the tin, during which time the syrup will be absorbed. 
• Then, when the cake is completely cold, remove it from the tin, spread the topping over, cut it into 12 squares and dust with a little more cinnamon.