Prettaly – Pretty Italy

Loving carrot cakes in general, I just had to try out this upside-down version. The horizontal lines on the cake are actually the carrot strips. The cake is really delicious and best when served warm. And with the carrots, a great idea to make for Easter!

See the recipe here:

Ingredients
Adapted from thekitchn.com
For the dough:
300g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons allspice (or if you don’t have that, use ½ spoon each of: ground cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg)
3/4 teaspoon salt
100g butter
100g dark-brown sugar (I used muscovado)
2 eggs & 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200ml buttermilk
50g pecan nuts (plus a few extra for decoration)

For the topping:
50g butter
50g dark-brown sugar (again I used muscovado)
2 medium carrots
(if you have the feeling you need more, just add butter/sugar into the pan)

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (oven set to air circulation).
Line a round baking tin with parchment and butter the parchment.

For the dough:
Mix together flour, spices and salt in a bowl.
Use a mixer to chop the pecan nuts.

In another large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and yolk, one after each other until smooth and then add vanilla extract. Add the flour mix, buttermilk and pecan nuts until all is mixed together. Set aside to prepare the topping.

For the topping:
Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, stirring constantly, until the mixture bubbles and starts to take on the texture of caramel (approx. 2 minutes). Remove the pot from the heat and transfer the mixture to the prepared baking tin.

Peel the carrots and then use the vegetable peeler to peel long, wide strips of carrot. Lay these strips onto the sugar-butter mixture in the baking tine, overlapping slightly (see picture). Finely chop the remaining carrot pieces and carefully mix into the dough. Pour the carrot layer with the dough and smooth the top.

Bake the cake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Use a wooden skewer to check if the cake is ready – if still doughy, leave in for another bit, if the skewer is just about dry, its ready. Let the cake cool for a few minutes and then tip the cake onto a serving plate and for best taste, serve while still warm!