We are in the tail-end of the winter harvest season, polishing off the last of gajar ka halwa. And yet, there are more carrots to chomp on. Enter a maida-free eggless cake which ticks all the right boxes for the health conscious: contains a mix of jowar, oats and wheat flour enriched with carrots, beetroot and walnuts. The recipe is courtesy Chef Sanjyot Keer, a Mumbai-based food content creator who runs Your Food Lab on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. For the recipe with egg, visit Your Food Lab on YouTube. For Lounge, Keer shared an eggless variation that celebrates fresh winter produce.
Eggless carrot beetroot cake with walnuts
Serves 6
Ingredients:
One-fourth cup (45 gms) salted butter, softened
Three-fourth cup (120 gms) powdered sugar/castor sugar
One-fourth cup oats
Half cup walnuts, crushed
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
Half cup wheat flour
One-fourth cup jowar flour
2 tsp baking powder
Half cup beetroot, grated
Half cup carrot, grated
A pinch of salt
Method:
1. In a bowl, add softened salted butter and powdered/castor sugar. Whisk well with an electric beater until the mixture turns soft, pale and fluffy.
2.Add oats in a grinding jar and grind to a fine powder. Keep aside.
3.Set a pan on medium heat, and dry roast the crushed walnuts for 2-3 minutes. Keep aside.
4.Next, add milk and vanilla extract to the beaten sugar and butter mixture. Add the milk slowly to avoid lumps and mix well.
5.In a sieve, place wheat flour, jowar flour, grinded oats flour and baking powder. Sift over the wet mix and gently fold in all the ingredients.
6.Add grated carrots, beetroot, roasted crushed walnuts and a pinch of salt. Gently fold well. Make sure you mix until the ingredients come together. Don’t overmix at this stage. If you find the batter is too dry for a cake, add a little water. Make sure to add in batches.
7.Grease a cake mould with butter or olive oil and coat well with some flour.
8.Pour the cake mixture in the mould and place walnut kernels and some crushed walnuts as garnish.
9.Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C for 30-35 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the centre and make sure it comes out clean. If the cake is not ready, allow it some more time in the oven.
10. Cool the cake completely before demoulding.
11. Your healthy eggless carrot beetroot cake is ready. Make it more interesting by adding your favourite garnish of chocolate or a light coating of icing sugar.
