Carrot Cake in a Microwave Oven
Carrot Cake
Mamta Gupta
This cake is cooked in a microwave, so suits those of you who do not have a conventional oven or are in a hurry. I got this recipe from America in the early days of microwave cooking, 1980's. The lady who gave it to me was either a lady classmate of my husband's or wife of a mate of his from medical school in Delhi. I can't remember which friend we were visiting at the time. The results are pretty good, a delicious, moist cake, definitely worth a try.
Edited May 2012
Ingredients
The Cake
175 gm. self-raising flour
175 gm. castor sugar
1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
1/2 tsp. all spice powder
150 gm. sunflower oil
175 gm. grated carrots
3 medium eggs
50 gm. sultanas or raisins
50 gm. walnuts, chopped
Icing:
100 gm. cream cheese
1 tbsp. milk
225 gm. icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla essence
Instructions
In a large bowl, sift flour and add sugar, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, spices and mix well with a fork.
In another bowl, beat oil and eggs until creamy.
Add flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat on low speed of a beater for 30 seconds or so. You can do this with a wooden or plastic spatula as well.
Add carrots, sultanas and walnuts. Mix them in.
Grease a microwave cake dish of 8 inch diameter. If you have silicone liner, or even a greaseproof liner, use that, it makes lifting out the cake easier later on.
Place half of this mix in the cake dish and place the dish on a rack in the microwave (raised above the base). Cook on 100% power for 2 minutes. Then rotate it and cook for further 3 minutes. Cake should spring back when pressed gently.
Repeat the same process of cooking for the remaining half of the cake mix.
If you do not want to use icing/filling between two layers of cake, cook the whole cake mix as one cake; 100% or full power for 5 minutes. Then rotate the cake and cook for a further 3+2+1+1 minutes, checking in between with a skewer to make sure it is cooked. It should feel springy to touch and skewers or a sharp knife inserted in it should come out clear. Do not overcook, which is easy to do in a microwave!
Allow it to stand for 5 minutes, invert it onto a wire rack and allow it to cool. If you have made it in a serving bowl and it is difficult to take out, cut it into squares (as shown in picture) and lift out individual squares.
Cream Cheese Filling and Icing:
Heat cream cheese in a bowl in the microwave on 50% power for 1-2 minutes. It should now be soft.
Beat in milk and vanilla essence at low speed of beater, until smooth.
Add icing sugar gradually and beat it in until smooth.
Sandwich two cooled carrot cakes with half of the icing. Spread the rest on top evenly.
Store in a cake tin.
