Rich flavours abound in this dessert inspired by fried carrot cake
Photo: Asian Food Channel
Celebrity chef Anna Olson returns to inspire culinary enthusiasts and home cooks alike with her new cooking show, Inspired with Anna Olson, on Asian Food Channel.
In the series, she journeys through Southeast Asia, traveling through countries like Ho Chi Minh City, Manila and Kuala Lumpur to learn the secrets of their local cuisines. She then recreates the dishes with her own signature twist, back home in her Canadian kitchen.
With one of the pit stops being Singapore, there’s no better way to celebrate than with this sweet treat inspired by our favourite fried carrot cake.
She says: “I love the idea that what I know of as carrot cake is completely different from the hawker version, so I’ve created a dessert where the carrot cake is closer in taste to the dessert I’ve grown up with, but with inspiration taken from the steaming technique, and a little savoury spice addition.”
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 150g finely grated peeled carrots
- 90ml vegetable oil
- 150g dark brown sugar
- 30g honey
- 6g finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 125g all-purpose flour
- 5g ground cinnamon
- 75g ground black pepper
- 5g baking powder
- 25g baking soda
- 25g fine salt
- 75g raisins or crushed pineapple (well-drained)
Method
- Grease six 150 mL (5-fl.oz) ramekins and place them in a pan with sides that are higher than the ramekins. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the carrots, oil, brown sugar, honey, ginger, egg and egg yolk by hand until evenly blended.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, pepper, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this to the carrot mixture and stir by hand until evenly combined (the batter will be very wet). Stir in the raisins (or pineapple). Divide this between the prepared ramekins.
- Pour boiling hot water around the ramekins so that it comes up halfway and cover the pan with foil or a lid. Bake the carrot cakes for 35-40 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of a cake comes out clean. Remove the ramekins immediately onto a cooling rack, and cool the cakes for at least 30 minutes before serving, or they can be served at room temperature. To serve, run a palette knife around the inside edge of each ramekin and turn the cake out onto a plate.
The cake can be served on its own, or with a scoop of ice cream, crème fraiche and/or caramel sauce.
“Inspired with Anna Olson” airs every Friday at 9:00pm, on Asian Food Channel, StarHub Ch 435.
ADVERTISEMENTS