Moist Pear and Carrot Cake

The autumn is already here! You can see all sorts of wonderful warm colours through the window and somehow everything looks like a fairy tale. Every Saturday, not far from where I live, there is an open farmer’s market. Farmers from nearby villages and towns are coming and selling what they have grown – it’s mostly fruit and veg, but there are also little stands with honey, jams, different types of cheese and salami.

Last time there were so many crates full of different types of pears that I bought some straight away to bake something… Of course, back then I didn’t know what to make exactly. But after a friend of mine brought me a whole bag of carrots from her mum’s garden, I immediately had this picture in my head of making a rich and moist cake combining the taste of carrots and pears. The result was this amazing autumn cake with cinnamon scent.

This pear and carrot cake is very light and has an unobtrusive sweet taste, it has a very small amount of sugar. It is super quick to make, especially if you have a food processor and you don’t need to grate the carrots by hand. It’s a great breakfast or an afternoon snack, with a cup of tea or coffee to keep it company. You can store it in the fridge for a few days or you can even freeze it.

Carrot and Pear Cake Ingredients:

• 265 g carrots
• 225 g flour
• 200 g pears
• 150 g sugar
• 100 ml vegetable or sunflower oil
• 85 g walnuts
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. cinnamon

Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting:

• 200 g cream cheese
• 60 g icing sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon for sprinkling
• ½ lemon

Carrots and Pear Cake Preparation:

1. Wash and peel the carrot and pears. Run them through a food processor or grate them.
2. Chop the walnuts.
3. Preheat the oven to 180ºС. Grease a rectangular baking tray (ca. 35×25 cm) and sprinkle it with flour.
4. Put all ingredients in a big bowl and stir until well combined.
5. Pour the cake mixture into the baking tray and smooth the surface. Bake for about 30 minutes and set aside to cool.
6. To make the cream cheese frosting, squeeze the juice from half a lemon. Mix the cream cheese, lemon juice and icing sugar together.
7. Smear the frosting over the cool carrot cake. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bon appetit!

Tip: 

1. You can use a grater with big or small holes. I prefer to use a grater with big holes as the cake gets fluffier this way. If you have only a grater with little holes, you will still obtain the same amazing taste, but the pear and carrot cake will be dense. You’ll lick your fingers in both cases.
2. When you’re adding the frosting, you can smear it smoothly or to shape waves for a more artistic effect.