Carrot Cake #2

And here comes another attempt. Which - honestly - turned out as delicious as the first one (recipe here). I'll call this one 'my favorite fluffy carrot orange cake' and the other one 'my favorite moist carrot cinnamon cake'. Both oranges and cinnamon are excellent together with carrots and add that little something to a carrot cake. This time I was using a lot of freshly grated orange zest which gives the carrot cake not only a nicely fruity flavour but also a very intense orange color. And it's definitely 34510379582 x healthier to use natural products as food coloring than chemical substances, right?!

Extra Fluffy Carrot Orange Cake
makes two loaf cakes

2 cups white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
4 cups finely grated carrots
zest of 1 - 2 oranges (depends on how fruity you want your cake to be)

Line two medium size loaf pans with baking paper. Preheat your oven to 150 C. Place sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat using a hand mixer on high speed until extremely foamy and light, for approximately 3 - 4 minutes. Add oil, orange zest and carrots and gently fold it in. Sieve over the flour together with baking powder and quickly beat in just until incoporated. Fill the batter in the prepared loaf pans and bake for about 1 hour. Let cool for a few minutes and then remove the cakes from the pans. Let cool completely.

Optional: Dust with some icing sugar.

Simple Semolina Muffins

Who doesn't love some sweet yellow muffins with a cup of strong hot coffee for breakfast? It's definitely one of the simplest and easiest recipes that I've ever tried and they're good for almost everything, a sweet breakfast, a cosy afternoon coffee, a small gift for a friend, just anything. You can frost them or dust them with some icing sugar or dip them in a chocolate ganache or eat them just like that when they're fresh from out of the oven.

Simple Semolina Muffins
makes 12 regular size muffins or one medium size round cake

1 cup yellow semolina
1 cup milk or buttermilk
1 cup sugar 
1 cup flour 
10 Tabsp vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 tsp baking powder

(optional: about 1 cup of raisins, chopped nuts, fresh berries, dried apricots, softened poppy seeds, seasonal fruits cut in small pieces, ...)

Line 12 muffin moulds with paper cups or line a medium size round baking pan with baking paper. Combine semolina with milk in a large bowl and let sit for at least 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 180C. Whisk the semolina milk mixture and beat in the oil. In another bowl beat the eggs together with sugar until light and bubbly for about 3 minutes. Add to the semolina mixture and whisk well. Sieve over flour and baking powder and quickly beat in. (Add 1 cup of an ingredient you like mentioned above.) Fill the batter in the 12 muffin cups and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes until done. If you use this recipe for a cake it might take another 10 minutes in the oven.