This is a simple and easy cake most of us Brazilians grew up eating – and also making! It is a light and fluffy carrot cake, dressed with a rich-gooey chocolate glaze.
At first glance, you may think this is not really a carrot cake because it has nothing to do with the chunky-moist-spice cake with thick cream cheese frosting that we loved here in America. This cake has no nuts, spice, raisins, or coconut but shares one defining trait with America’s loved carrot cake: the carrots!
In this Brazilian carrot cake whole chunks of raw carrot go straight into the blender with eggs, oil, and sugar to transform into a bright colorful batter.
You won’t spend more than 40 minutes from start to finish to make this carrot cake. First you blend the wet ingredients and carrots in the blender and then you pour the mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix everything well, bake for 25-30 minutes, make the glaze, wait for the cake to cool off (definitely the hardest part of this recipe), and drizzle the glaze all over.
The chocolate glaze purposely adds a hint of bitterness to this somewhat mellow cake. If you not into bitter chocolate, you may change your opinion after trying this chocolate glaze and carrot cake together. It is ‘muito bom’!
Brazilian carrot cake – Bolo de cenoura
Ingredients
- 3 medium raw carrots – aprox. 2 cups – washed, peeled, and roughly chopped.
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup oil (canola, vegetable oil, grape seed oil)
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
For the glaze
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup chocolate powder
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center. Spray a 10-inch (25cm) Bundt pan and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Reserve. Pile the carrots, oil, eggs, and sugar in the blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pour the mixture into the bowl with dry ingredients. Fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula until no traces of flour remain.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20- 30 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack set over a rimmed baking sheet to finish cooling.
Make the glaze
- Add all ingredients for the glaze in a saucepan. On medium heat, bring glaze into a simmer, with a rubber spatula, until the glaze is well-melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let it cool off for 5 minutes. Add heavy cream and mix well.
- Spoon the glaze over the cake and leave it to set a bit before slicing and serving.