A 5 min carrot cake recipe (honest!)
So Jamie’s obsessed with the carrot cake from Nandos and it’s typical that the last two times he’s wanted to order it, they haven’t had it available (I’ve made you want a Nandos now, haven’t I?)
After a quick Google, I found a recipe that claimed to achieve the impossible… a CARROT CAKE… in ONE MINUTE. Too good to be true I hear you say - but it didn’t disappoint after a few tweaks! Full disclaimer: it took about 5 minutes, not 1 minute, but that's still pretty good.
I now present to you my lil’ recipe for a carrot cake in five minutes.
PS: this serves 1, but if you want to make more, just use a separate mug for each serving.
PPS: 1 tbsp = 15 grams ( remember to use a measuring tablespoon, not just a random one from the kitchen draw. Little Shaaba took a while to learn that, sigh).
PPPS: Cream cheese frosting doesn’t go down well in this house, so I used buttercream, but there's a cream cheese tweak at the end if you prefer!
Cake ingredients:
1 tbsp x plain flower
2 tbsp x golden caster sugar (you can use ordinary caster if you prefer)
4g bicarbonate of soda (just under a teaspoon)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
A little pinch of salt
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 tbsp grated carrot (about half a chonky boy)
2 tbsp chocolate chips (optional, but scrummy)
1 tbsp chopped walnuts and/or 1 tbsp raisins (again, optional. Jamie prefers without, but I’m working on it)
Frosting ingredients:
50g x butter
80g x icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
A conservative squeeze of honey (optional, but again, yummm)
Instructions:
Honestly my loves, this couldn’t be easier. Get a normal sized (and microwave safe) mug and put all of the cake ingredients in, in any order. Mix this together well - I used the measuring spoons to save on washing, but make sure you get rid of all the pesky flour pockets. The mix should take up 1/4 to 1/3 of the mug.
Pop it in the microwave for 1 minute and 20 seconds on full power. Be careful when you remove the mug - it’ll be super hot! If there’s any large and very-obvious wet spots on top, pop it in for another 10 seconds. If you poke it and it feels spongey without your finger seeping through, you’re good.
Whilst that cools, put the butter, icing sugar, and vanilla essence in a small bowl and mix well. It’ll feel weird and hard at first, but it will mix well after a minute or so.
When it looks like frosting, squeeze a teeny bit of honey and mix that in too.
At this point, I ran a knife around the edge of the mug cake and emptied it into a dessert bowl. The cake came out in two halves which is fine because I broke it up into large chunks to spread around the bowl.
Finally, pop your frosting on top. If you’re feeling extra naughty, sprinkle some chocolate chips to finish, or some chocolate shavings if you’re feeling fancy.
Cream cheese substitute: if a less sweet cream cheese frosting is more your jam, go for it! For that, just mix 80g of cream cheese with 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence and a squeeze of honey instead.
Either way, enjoy! It’s a naughty treat that you can make in under 5 minutes with minimal washing up. You’re welcome :P
I didn’t manage to take photos of this one before Jamie grabbed it, but if you decide to give this a go, feel free to tag me in your pics!
Much love, Shaaba x
