- 2 cups + 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
- 20 turns (in the pepper mill) of freshly ground black pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup + 1/4 cup oil (I have used Olive Oil)
- 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or orange extract
- 2 cups + 1/4 cup grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots)
- 1 cup freshly grated (or frozen) coconut
- 2 small oranges or clementines, pureed with peels and the flesh – about 1 cup pureed
- 3/4 cup nuts, divided (I have used a mix of toasted pecans, almonds and macadamia nuts)
For a light glaze
confectioners sugar + more for dusting if you wish
orange juice
Method
Grate (use the food processor or the hand grater) the carrots and set aside.
Puree the oranges/clementines with the peels and set aside.
Combine the first 8 ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and the spices and pepper) in a large bowl.
Whisk/beat oil and sugar until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add one egg at a time and whisk them in until creamy and light colored. Add the vanilla/or the orange extract. Add the grated carrots and stir them in.
Add about 1/3 or the flour mix in to the egg-oil-sugar mix and beat until combine. Add the rest of the flour in 2 more shifts and whisk/beat until combined and smooth.
Add the coconut and the pureed oranges and whisk/beat until blended.
Dust the nuts with some flour. Add half the nuts in the batter and stir it in.
Pre heat oven to 350 F. Line cake tins with baking/parchment paper. Lightly grease the paper. Pour in the batter in the cake tin, sprinkle the rest of the nuts and gently stir them in, but only as deep as about 1/4 inch from the top. If you are doing the frosting/icing, you might want to save some nuts to sprinkle on the top of the cake after frosting it.
Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Cool cake in the pan in a cooling back.
To make the glaze
Whisk some confectioners sugar and orange juice to a syrupy consistency and drip it over the cake, only after the cake is completely cooled. Dust with confectioners sugar if you wish.