Russian cuisine is famous for a huge variety of dishes, among which pastries deserve special attention. Many housewives have their own traditional recipes for making cakes, pies, kulebyak. Sweet pastries can decorate any table, both casual and festive. Not only tasty, but also useful dish is carrot. Its recipe is quite simple, and the ingredients are available to almost everyone.
Ingredients for Classic Carrot Cake
First of all, you need carrots. It is best to take one large or several small ones. You should also have wheat flour, sugar, an egg. These components will be the basis of the carrot test. The recipe also includes a little butter (it can be replaced with vegetable). In order for the cake to be lush and airy, it is necessary to use a baking powder or ordinary soda (quenched with vinegar or lemon). If desired, you can add cinnamon, ground nuts, citrus fruit zest to the dough. These are the classic ingredients of carrot cake.
Carrot Recipe with photo
First you need to prepare carrots (about one glass). It is thoroughly washed and rubbed on a coarse grater. However, some housewives use finely grated carrots for a more delicate consistency. Then all dry ingredients are mixed (flour - 1.5 cups, baking powder - a couple of tablespoons). One egg should be divided into protein and yolk. The protein is whipped to a state of cool foam, and the yolk is ground with sugar. Everyone selects the amount of sugar depending on their taste. Knead the dough on a carrot. The recipe (with photo) indicates that the components must be mixed in the following order: a yolk with sugar is introduced into the sifted flour, oil and carrots are added. Oil can be replaced with sour cream. Then gently interferes with the whipped protein in the dough. It is he who will provide the necessary airiness of the pie.
Cake baking and decoration
The oven is preheated to 180 ° C. It is best to use a split mold, from which it is much easier to get ready-made carrots. The recipe indicates that the cooking time is about 40 minutes. Of course, the baking period depends on the features of the oven, and on the thickness of the cake. You can check the readiness with a toothpick. A pie is pierced with it, and if the toothpick remains dry, the dough does not stick, then the carrot can be considered baked. The classic carrot recipe in the oven does not use any creams. Ready baked goods are simply sprinkled with powdered sugar. However, in order to diversify the taste, you can cook sour cream and smear cakes with it. Cottage cheese filling is also good for carrot pie. To do this, the cheese is whipped with powdered sugar and a small amount of butter (cream) or sour cream. Another cream option is applesauce with pectin. Since the cake itself is quite sweet, you can coat it with lemon glaze on top.
Cooking curd
For the preparation of cream from cottage cheese, you can use ordinary sour milk cheese, and mascarpone, and ricotta. However, you can try to cook a gentle cream cheese yourself. To do this, use sour cream or fat cream, which are placed in a pan and put on a small fire. Then a small amount of milk is added to the sour cream. The resulting mixture is heated (up to 70 ° C), lemon juice is introduced into it. After some time, the mass will curl. Do not bring the mixture to a boil. After cooling, the mass is thrown back into a colander with gauze. Whey can drain for a rather long period, so it is better to cook such cheese in advance.
Lean pie
If you replace some of the ingredients with others, you can get a delicious dessert for a lean table. First of all, butter is replaced with vegetable oil. It is necessary to take 4-6 tablespoons. The remaining components are sugar (100-150 grams), flour (one glass) and soda. And, of course, grated carrots (about one glass). You can also add half a glass of fruit juice to the dough. Next, the ingredients are mixed, carrot is baked. The recipe for vegetarians (or for fasting) allows the use of dried fruits (for example, raisins), nuts. For decoration, you can use fresh fruits. You can try replacing sunflower oil with corn, olive, and honey instead of sugar.
Carrot Variations
Many housewives add their ingredients to the classic recipe. For example, banana puree is often added to the dough. They need to take about 2 pieces. If you want a slightly sour taste, you can use grated apples. There is also an option for how to bake a delicious carrot. Pie (the recipe is not quite classic) is prepared as follows: grated carrots are boiled in milk, then filtered. A dough is prepared separately from yogurt, sugar, eggs, margarine, sunflower oil and flour. Boiled rice. Then all the resulting ingredients are mixed. A cake is baked at 180 ° C.
Carrot Multicooking Recipe
A slow cooker is a modern invention that greatly facilitates the cooking process. With its help, you can not only cook cereals, soups, but also bake all kinds of biscuits and pies. Ingredients are used such as for cooking in the oven. First, in the “Baking” mode, butter is melted (100 grams). He also lubricates the bowl on the sides. In a separate bowl, knead the dough with grated carrots, flour, eggs, sugar, soda. Carefully pour the mass into the bowl, mix again with a wooden or silicone spatula.
According to the recipe, such a cake needs to be baked for about an hour. Due to the uniform heating, the dough is perfect, it becomes magnificent. However, in a slow cooker a golden crust on top will not work. After the carrot is ready, you must wait another 20 minutes, and only then take it out. It is best to use a steaming container for this. It is lowered onto a biscuit, the appliance bowl is turned over. Then carefully transfer the cake to a suitable plate.