Carrot Cake (Morotskaka)
By Middagsarkivet
- Easy
- 12 servings
Carrot cake is American by birth, but it has been naturalized in Scandinavia so thoroughly that most Swedes would be surprised to hear otherwise. Morotskaka showed up in Nordic cafes in the 1980s, somewhere between the cinnamon buns and the almond tarts, and never left. It is now a fixture of the fika counter, usually cut from a sheet pan into generous squares with a thick cap of cream cheese frosting.
The Nordic version differs from the American one in small ways. Cardamom usually joins the cinnamon, the cake is more often a single sheet than a layer cake, and shredded coconut turns up as often as nuts do. The frosting is lighter on sugar and sharpened with lemon zest, which keeps a very sweet cake from tipping over.
How to make it
- 1
Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan and line the bottom with parchment.
- 2
Mix the dry ingredients
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and nutmeg together in a large bowl.
- 3
Grate the carrots
Grate the carrots on the coarse side of a box grater. You want about 3 cups, loosely packed, not squeezed dry.
- 4
Mix the wet ingredients
In a second bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth and slightly pale.
- 5
Combine
Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir just until no dry flour remains. Fold in the grated carrot, and the shredded coconut and chopped almonds if using. Do not taste the raw batter; it contains raw egg and raw flour.
- 6
Bake
Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a skewer in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs and no wet batter.
- 7
Cool completely
Cool the cake in the pan on a rack until it is fully at room temperature, at least 1 hour. Frosting a warm cake gives you soup.
- 8
Make the frosting
Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth, then beat in the confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Stop as soon as it is even; overbeating makes cream cheese frosting runny.
- 9
Frost and cut
Spread the frosting over the cooled cake in a thick, swooping layer. Cut into 12 squares.
A couple of tips
Grate the carrots yourself. Pre-shredded carrots from a bag are dry and thick, and they stay stringy in the finished cake.
If the frosting is loose, chill it for 20 minutes and beat it briefly again before spreading.
For a layer cake, divide the batter between two 8 inch round pans and bake for 28 to 32 minutes.
What you need
- 9x13 inch baking pan
- box grater
- electric mixer
Serving
Serve as fika with strong black coffee. A square on a small plate with a fork is the standard, no cream, no sauce.
Storing it
Keeps 4 days in the refrigerator, covered. Because of the cream cheese frosting it should not sit out at room temperature for more than a couple of hours. Let squares come to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 560 kcal |
|---|---|
| Fat | 31 g |
| of which saturated | 9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 66 g |
| of which sugars | 47 g |
| Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Salt | 1 g |
Questions and answers
- Can you freeze carrot cake?
- Yes. Freeze the unfrosted cake whole or in squares, well wrapped, for up to 3 months, then thaw at room temperature and frost. Frosted squares also freeze, but the frosting weeps a little on thawing.
- Can I make carrot cake ahead of time?
- Bake the cake a day ahead, keep it wrapped at room temperature, and frost it on the day you serve it. The crumb is actually better on day two.
- What can I use instead of cardamom?
- Leave it out and raise the cinnamon to 1 tablespoon, or use allspice. Cardamom is the Nordic signature here, but the cake works without it.
- Why is my cream cheese frosting runny?
- Either the cake was still warm, the cream cheese was low fat or whipped in a tub, or the frosting was beaten too long. Use block cream cheese and stop mixing as soon as it is smooth.
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- 1 min 41 sec
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