Gajarela Cake

 Gajar Ka Halwa Cake - Indian Spiced Carrot Cake 

Afternoon Tea Week 2020

This lightly spiced carrot cake is based on the key ingredients in Gajar Ka Halwa or Gajarela, a traditional Indian sweet normally made with lots of carrots, sugar and reduced milk. Afternoon tea is the perfect excuse to eat a slice of this cake, along with a cup of Masala Chai. 

Gajarela is often served warm with a side of ice cream, the white chocolate drizzle on top of this provides the perfect balance to recreate the vanilla ice cream flavour profile.

The taste I was trying to recreate with this cake was that flavour of eating Gajar Ka Halwa with Ice Cream during a hot wedding reception in the middle of August, whilst also taking a bite of the wedding cake with a sip of tea and waiting for your favourite song to come on for one last dance...... its been so long since I last went to a wedding. 

So rather than waiting for a wedding to attend, why not create your own celebration and enjoy this treat for a special Afternoon Tea. 

Ingredients:

Cake

2 Eggs
150g Light Brown Sugar
150ml Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract 
150g Self - Raising Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp Ground Cardamom 
50g Ground Almonds
30g Flaked Almonds
130g Grated Carrots

Topping 

40g White Chocolate Melted 
20g Pistachios finely sliced
20g Flaked Almonds finely sliced

Method

1.Preheat oven to 160Fan/Gas Mark 3 and grease and line a square 20x20cm tin.

2.In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. 

3. Another bowl sift flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt together before combining with the wet mixture. 

4. Add in carrots, ground almonds and flaked almonds. Mix for a few minutes until all combined. 

5.Pour into pan, level off and bake for around 25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. 

6. Allow cake to cool completely on a wire rack. 

7. Drizzle with melted white chocolate and top with the finely slices nuts before cutting into squares to enjoy.