Crunchy Carrot Cake/Pudding!

Posted by bhartivachhani1084 on

Honest opinion – I am SUPPPEER proud of myself to bring this recipe to you. A year ago i had a recipe of carrot cake with a mix of chick pea flour and almond flour. Today i have a recipe with Almond flour and Oat flour and this truly deeply dooo is the BEST.
Today i am celebrating my parents anniversary AND the birthday of my super loving, hard working and chilled AF best friend A.K.A – husband. It has been a great weird crazy week. Cooking non stop, cleaning non stop and playing Xbox non stop due to the virus lockdown and whilst patting on my back – I have started this week writing two recipes that i love THE most.

Guys, this carrot cake is LEGIT halwa and it is so so dreamy when you heat a slice of it in the microwave for just 20 seconds and some BUTTAAA or cream on top.
So, for the longest time I have felt that carrot cake is sort of an very classy and an untouchable classic cake that how do I play around with it? Will people give it a try with healthier ingredients? WILL THEY?
This is what happened next – I missed gajar ka halwa and walnut halwa. Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to Indian delicacies the only two I realllly miss are these two halwas. YES! I am not a big fan of rasgullas and kheer and all of that. REALLY into brownies and cookies as y’all might already know!
I went for a cousin’s wedding last year in India and as fabulous as their wedding was, the FOOD was DARN good. They had the BEST walnut halwa/pudding and good god I wanted to recreate that but knowing the amount of FAT that goes into making it, I came with this recipe to satisfy my craving and what can I say? DAMN HAPPY!
Now I know that people take their Carrot cake add-ins rather seriously, so PLEASE feel free to omit walnuts and add pecans, add raisins with some nuts as the middle layer or add coconut on top and add ANY icing you like. I skipped on the icing cause I genuinely wanted a halwa taste to it. Instead of coconut sugar, add brown sugar or jaggery. That is a must because in the middle layer when I added walnuts, I mixed it in with coconut sugar to sort of give that crunch and that halwa/pudding feel to it and it was the best decision!
My Instagram handle – bammbi101, let me know if you made this because I might make it again soon and then a virtual call hang out with having our cakes and chai will be the BEST!

Ingredients –

  • Carrots – 2.5 cups finely chopped in a processor
  • Oat flour – 1 cup
  • Almond flour – 3/4 cup
  • Light cocoa powder – 2 tbsp
  • Almond butter – 2 tbsp
  • Eggs – 2
  • Milk – 1 cup
  • Maple syrup – 1 cup
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tbsp
  • Nutmeg – 1 tsp
  • Cinnamon – 2 tsp
  • Candied walnuts – 1 cup
  • Coconut sugar/jaggery/brown sugar – 1/2 cup
  • Coconut sugar for candied walnuts – 1/2 cup
  • Maple syrup for candied walnuts – 1/2 cup
  • Salt – 1 tsp
  • Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
  • Baking powder – 1 tbsp
  • Baking soda – 1 tsp

Directions –

  • Preheat oven at 360 degrees and grease the baking dish with butter and a spray avocado oil or 1 tbsp ghee.
  • Let’s make the middle layer consisting of walnuts, coconut sugar and maple syrup first.
  • In an average bowl – add roughly chopped pieces of walnuts, coconut sugar and maple syrup according to the list of ingredients. Mix it all up and keep aside.
  • In a separate big bowl add the following – carrots, oat and almond flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg and salt. Whisk it all through so there are no lumps.
  • In a processor or blender, add in the eggs, milk, butter, maple syrup, sugar and vanilla essence and blend for a few seconds.
  • Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of almond and oat flour that we just put together using a spatula until throughly incorporated. Remember to use a spatula and not a whisk.
  • Once that is done, pour in half the mix in the greased dish. Add in a layer of the coconut sugar and walnut mix on the sides (like i did) or add it all over the poured layer, totally up to you.
  • Add the remaining cake batter on top of it all, give it a little shake and put it in the oven for bake.
  • Bake at 360 for AT LEAST 35-38 minutes or until a toothpick comes out almost clean with still some gooey mix on it.
  • Allow for the cake to cool at least for 30 – 40 minutes before slicing.
  • I suggest using a sharp knife since the cake will be moist and jello kinds.