Thursday, 3 May 2012

Carrot cake (to help you see in the dark)


If you are going to make a carrot cake,
and I am,
this is the mummy of them all.



Cranks' carrot cake was a variation of a traditional Swiss recipe.
They added grated carrot to give it a moist texture.
I put the icing in the middle instead of on top
to sandwich together my rather too thin layers.
I also left out the cinnamon, because I am not overly keen on it.
(You will thank me for this later I know.)




They might have been listening to this
back in 1961 when they opened their first restaurant,
in yet to be swinging Carnaby Street.




13 comments:

  1. Dear Heaven ! How can I still know all the words to this song .... and have trouble remembering where I've put my rail card ?
    Perhaps a slice or two of carrot cake would improve things !

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  2. mmm, I love Cranks. We used to head to their caré in Totnes whenever we visited, back in the '80s. My mum thought it was funny...

    My son is a carrot cake chef - he is actually working on a recipe with extra cinnamon at the moment!

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  3. Oh that dear old book. My mother was the first person in the west of Ireland to have it; she was very forward-thinking about chick peas. It has no cover now. I would like to eat two slices nostalgically please.

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  4. Wonderful way to get our veggies!

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  5. Oh, I have a (different) Cranks cookery book. I never went to the restaurant, though. Carrot cake - yum, especially with cinnamon.

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  6. I too have a couple of Cranks cook books my favourite recipe is their flapjacks - yum. I remember visiting Carnaby St. in the 60's when it was the 'in' place - fab.

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  7. Cranks! I used to swim at the oasis and then dash to cranks for a salad, in the days of my distant youth!
    Super recipe which I will try, and another book to find!

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  8. Oh dear, I remember Cranks' quiches ... the heaviest pastry known to man but I suppose it was good for you. But I did like their cakes.

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  9. Oh! That recipe book! I lost mine years ago but the cover brings back happy memories. The cake looks wonderful. I now make a gluton free carrot cake, only because my sister in law gave me the recipe and it's excellent. But your photo made me feel like overloading with gluten again.

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  10. I can feel a baking coming on! I've always found it a difficult cake, to get moist but not too squidgy, perhaps I should try again... Jane xx

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  11. I do love carrot cake, especially with a bit of apple sauce mixed in the recipe and walnuts, too...and a cream cheese frosting thinly applied. Yummy!
    Thanks for the background on Crank's, too. Great!

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  12. I have that very book! An the sequel, the optimistically titled "Entertaining with Cranks', both a trifle dog-eared and be-splattered, but still going strong.

    I have commented elsewhere about carrot cake - t'is an all time 'stayer', isn't it? I'm with you re the cinnamon; I like it with apples.

    I particularly enjoyed the comment by Mise, above, about her mother : she was very forward thinking about chick-peas. Love it!

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