Recipes from Ireland – Carrot Cake from the Dingle Peninsula
It’s in the café of Louis Mulcahy’s pottery on West Kerry’s Dingle Peninsula that whipping sea turns into whipped cream. The architect of this culinary corner is chef and writer, Emer Fallon, and we’ve cornered her for one of her most popular recipes – Carrot Cake.
Winter in West can sometimes be long. When a summer passes by without many sunny glances it can seem even longer. Despite that, one of the real pleasures of living and working on the tip of a remote peninsula is the thought of settling in for a cosy winter.
Louis Mulcahy's Clothar Workshop - the home of Emer's café and carrot cake
Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to cake. The thing is, there are summer cakes and there are winter cakes. A lighter-than-air sponge cake or a crispy meringue roulade oozing whipped cream and freshly picked fruit summons up memories of long evenings and busy days. Winter, on the other hand, means rich dark slabs of chocolate and walnut brownies or deep wedges of golden, spice-laden carrot cake, topped with creamy lemon frosting, all crumbling gently together at the touch of a fork.
Irish carrots - old reliables
I was introduced to the carrot cake recipe below by a New Zealand chef I worked with over 15 years ago. I forgot all about it until I was looking for a reliable, easy to bake cake I could serve here in the café at Louis Mulcahy’s Pottery. I’d forgotten just how simple a recipe this was until I tried it again this summer.
The great thing about carrots in Ireland is that they’re nearly always available. They’re also cheap, and in a vegetable garden, as long as they don’t fall prey to carrot fly, they rarely let you down. After a cold snap where beans, courgettes, and squash all struggle with the cold, you start to appreciate all over again Ireland’s humbler, more traditional vegetables. Carrots, potatoes, parsnips, and turnips all sit happily under the soil, unbothered by things like ferocious winds and nipping cold and they just grow. Which means that when you go out to your vegetable garden in September and find it looking a little desolate, you can still pull a few gleaming carrots from the soggy ground.
Emer's Carrot Cake in all (well, nearly all) its glory
When baking this cake, there are a few things to look out for: Firstly, it takes a good hour to bake. Secondly, it generally dips a little in the middle. That’s just the nature of it. In the café we turn it over and ice the underpart. And finally (I think), most of the cakes we bake in the café are measured in pounds and ounces, so this recipe is unusual for us in that it’s measured in cups. We use a Louis Mulcahy cup (of course we do!) and it’s probably a little on the large side, so it makes a 12 inch cake. If you’re using a smaller cup you could consider going for a 10 inch tin.
Emer Fallon’s West Kerry Carrot Cake
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 and a half tsp bread soda
Cappuccino, Carrot Cake, creamnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom...
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups grated carrot
- 4 eggs
- 1 and a half cups of sunflower oil
- 1 small can of crushed pineapple
- 1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts
- 1 tsp of vanilla essence
Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk the sugar, eggs and carrot together in a separate bowl and add to the dry ingredients. Finally, add the oil, pineapple, walnuts and vanilla essence and beat everything together, pour your mixture into a lined cake tin with a removable base and bake for about an hour at 170.
If the cake looks like it’s getting a little too brown on top, cover it with tinfoil, and after about half an hour turn the heat down to 150.
When the hour is up, test it with a wooden skewer. If it comes out clean the cake is done. You can also gently pat the top – if it’s firm your carrot cake is ready to come out of the oven.
Leave it to cool before removing from the tin and icing.
For the icing:
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 cup of cream cheese
- 1 cup of Icing sugar
Mix ingredients together, spread the icing generously over the top of your cake, and decorate with some whole walnuts. Voila – or sin é, as we say in West Kerry.
For some more info about Louis Mulcahy and his potting creations have a look around their website and you can chat with Emer about her recipes on the café’s Facebook page.
For more delicious food from Ireland, our blog has tons of recipes to choose from.
Cake isn’t even the best thing about Dingle! Every winter the town is host to the most incredible array of international musicians. Read about Dingle’s Other Voices.
Sounds like a lovely receipe, but it’s in Celcius and now I have to go find a converssion chart if I wanna bake it!! LOL, sometimes I wish the US would go to the metric system instead of clinging to the old imperical one.
I’m in the USA and was wondering what is Bread Soda?
It’s also called Baking Soda or Sodium Bicarbonate, Donna! Hope that helps!
I, too am in the US. The baking temperature needs to be converted also?
Hi Susan. Try this link. It’s explains the conversions well. http://www.joyofbaking.com/OvenTemperatures.html
Cheers,
David
Interesting, the use of sunflower oil, instead of the typical veggie oil, in your recipe, David. Here in the States, sunflower oil tends to be pretty pricy. I would expect, as with many ‘expensive’ oils, once they’re incorporated into a recipe that will be cooked/baked, such as this quickbread cake, using a ‘good’ veggie oil will not likely change the flavour in an especially noticeable way. I’m inclined to use the ‘pricy’ oils (walnut oil, sunflower oil, etc.) when it will be dressing a salad. I’ll admit to using EVOO in any recipe calling for olive oil – but EVOO is really not expensive, when bought in larger sizes. BTW, I’m thinking Susan and Michelle must be kitchen virgins, if they really need to query you on the correct temp for the oven, on a quickbread/cake – and on ‘bread soda’, too. I’m surprised they didn’t ask about ‘vanilla essence’ – but here’s a strong warning to any kitchen virgins. Use only ‘pure’ vanilla extract – do not, under any circumstances, try the ‘frugal’ path, with ‘artificial’ vanilla.
Hi Beverly,
First off I have to mention that it’s Emer’s recipe (don’t want to be taking any of the credit!). Secondly, in Ireland sunflower oil is the most affordable oil and is priced similarly to vegetable oil. In fact, there is little discernible difference between the two in terms of taste. The idea behind using them here, I imagine, is that they do not carry strong flavours, like say an olive or walnut oil might, therefore not influencing the taste of the cake.
Thirdly, I’m sure the ladies who commented here are well up on their cooking and baking parlance/temperatures etc, I should have provided them myself, that was remiss of me.
Lastly, thanks so much for reading the post and commenting. It’s lovely to have a bit of discussion on the posts and I’m sure that a baking pro such as yourself will do Emer’s recipe proud!
Best,
David
many thanx to David!!
Oh yeah, that is the kiwi recipe. Love the pineapple in this carrot cake recipe. Enjoy!!!!!!!
converts to 338 degrees F…i’ll just put it between 325 and 350 and watch it!!
Very welcome, Donna!
>;~} Apologies to others here – I should not have teased, re the °C vs °F. I guess I just automatically set the oven for 350°F, when doing a ‘dense batter/quickbread’ cake. Re: sunflower oil, here, you’ll pay an easy $5 for just an 16 oz. bottle, where veggie oil will be about $2.50 for 48 oz. (add a buck, if you want a ‘nationally advertised’ brand) – which would really bring the price to bake Emer’s delicious cake ‘up’ a bit, for a skinflint like moi. Sunflower oil is better for frying, as it will withstand a higher temperature without smoking – so it’s great for a high temp sauté. I generally figure, from both a financial and flavour focus: With a veggie main ingredient, veggie oil will suffice, in quickbreads like carrot or zucchini bread. In my own carrot cake efforts – a huge slice being my idea of ‘one of seven (or 4.5, depending upon the quoted report, recommended by the USDA)’ – I’ll sometimes cut back on the oil, and use some applesauce, instead (so, with Emer’s recipe, I ‘spose I could get 3 of the suggested 7, if I have 3 slices for breakfast (carrot, apple, pineapple!). Either way, I especially like the idea, as you’ve suggested here, of using ‘root’ veggies in the appropriate season. Another ‘baker’s tip’ – take a moment or two to toast the walnuts – even when baked in a batter, the toasting will enhance the flavour. If you’re really in the mood to spend money, get some black walnuts – but then, no. Not for carrot cake. Really – save them for black walnut bread – another ‘taste of winter’ for me. My husband used to run them over with the ’78 Coupe deVille, to break the husks, then use a 3# maul, to crack the nuts! ‘Those were the days, my friend …”
Is “icing sugar” the same as “granulated sugar”? Thanks
Afraid not, Jody! Icing sugar is the same product as confectioners sugar.
Hope that helps,
David
Oooh… i cant wait to try this! i cannot find a decent carrot cake or even spice cake in Wyoming, and everything store bought taste like cardboard, Thank you sooo much!!
And if you didn’t have such long winters just maybe I would move there, but most definitely a place for me to come visit Ireland.
This looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this in your post. ;0)
Bella
Very simply bread soda is what we in the USA call Baking Soda.
Still looking for the cappuccino carrotcake recipe, may be I’ll try on my own and add 1/2 a cup of Kalhua?
And where’s the raisins? kathy
I have been there! They have lovely cheeses too with seaweed, really special!!! I miss Ireland soo bad!
What size would the small can of crushed pineapple be, and do you include the juice in the recipe? Thanks
I’m going to try this, but husband still won’t eat carrot cake, says it’s too bizarre an ingredient! I was born in Limerick, roots are in East Clare. David you are interested in the Titanic? My grandmother’s older brother perished aboard her.
Hello there Coleen,
Sure, whip up the cake, don’t tell him it’s carrot and I’m sure you’ll change his mind! He should just be happy that he has a wife who bakes for him
I’m hugely interested in the story of the Titanic and astounded to hear that a relation of yours was unfortunate to perish with the ship. Is this a story passed down through the family?
You might like to join the following page on Facebook where some similarly interested folks discuss Titanic – https://www.facebook.com/TitanicStories
Best,
David
This is the BEST carrot cake ever! I found this last year (2011) as I wanted to make a carrot cake for my husbands birthday and use carrots we grow in our garden! He LOVED it! So here it is 2012 and I’m making it again! I am 4th generation Irish from County Cork and am so happy to start a new family tradition with this receipe!! Thanks Emer and DAVID!!!
Delighted you liked it, Shalene. I make a point of eating my body weight any time I visit Emer’s cafe.
Emer would certainly approve of you using your own carrots from the garden: she’s a very keen gardener herself. Especially vegetables.
Thanks again for such kind comments and happy munching!
David
Great recipe, but didn’t like the icing, at all! Is there an alternative, I like the rich thick icing on traditonal cakes, but found the icing little over bearing, I used Tesco full fat soft cheese and dunnes icing sugar. With half lemon, was very runny? Maybe i did it wrong but I didn’t like the it! Cake was super though !
Thanks
Would suggest using a marscapone possibly, Nick. If you found it too runny, I’d go for lemon zest rather than the juice. You get the citron kick without the liquid.
Cheers,
David