ROOIBOS CARROT CAKE
A classic we discovered in Cape Town, with a recipe you’ll want to make over and over again
INFUSE: 30 minutes – PREP: 45 minutes – BAKE: 50 minutes
Makes 12 generous servings
- 4 lemons, organic or unwaxed
- 12 sachets of Kalahari Camp
- 600 g (1 1/3 lbs.) carrots, about 12 medium carrots
- 100 g (3 ½ oz. or 1 scant cup) walnuts
- 550 g (1 ¼ lbs. or 4 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 500 g (1 lb. 1 oz. or 2 ½ cups) brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 4 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 500 ml (2 cups) sunflower seed oil, or other neutral oil
- 8 eggs
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened, to grease the pan, and a little flour to dust it
For the icing
- 400 g (14 oz. or 1 2/3 cups) cream cheese
- 35 g (4 tablespoons) icing (confectioners’) sugar
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) lemon juice
METHOD
1 Wash the lemons and grate the zest. Squeeze the juice into a bowl. Infuse the Kalahari Camp
sachets in the lemon juice for 30 minutes. Peel the carrots and grate them finely. Marinate them, together with the grated zest, in the rooibos infusion. Roughly chop the walnuts.
2 Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350° F / gas mark 4). In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Stir in the oil. Add the eggs one by one, mixing until thoroughly combined before adding the next one. Stir in the carrots, with their marinade, and the walnuts just until evenly distributed.
3 Butter a 25 cm (10 inch) tin, preferably a springform tin, and dust it lightly with flour. Turn it upside down and rap it to remove any excess flour. Pour in the batter and bake for about 50 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out dry. Leave to cool in the pan, turn out carefully and ice.
4 To make the icing, combine all the ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Smooth over the cooled carrot cake.
Tip: If you have any batter left over, make a few extra muffins. A springform tin will make it easier to unmould the cake. You can cut it into two to make two layers and spread some of the icing in the middle.
MIKAËL GROU’S WINE PAIRING
A mythical Klein Constantia “Vin de Constance”, a wine Napoléon Bonaparte was fond of.
