Problem with old carrot cake recipe

I'm struggling with an old fashioned carrot cake recipe my dad use to make for us when we were younger (20 years ago). We recently rediscovered the recipe but have been unable to succesfully bake it. Between 3 of us we have tried it 15-20 times but each time the cake collapses when taken out of the oven, and/or is just raw and goo-y in the bottom half.

We have tried baking it for longer (almost twice the time), covering it in foil and changing the size of the tin but have met with no success.

Any ideas or advice would be greatfully recieved!

The recipe is as follows:

1/2 lb (225g) plain wheatmeal or wholewheat flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
4 oz (110g) butter
4 oz (110g) honey
4 oz (110g) sugar
1/2 lb (225g) grated carrots

Pre-heat oven at 170C. Mix flour, spices and baking powder together. Melt the butter, honey and sugar in a saucepan, and stir in this mixture into the flour, combining all ingredients together. Next Stir in the grated carrots. Put mixture into a 1lb (450g) loaf tin and bake for 60-80 minutes, until firm to the touch and skewer through the centre comes out clean. Leave cake in tin for 10minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Thank you in advance for any help!

robert horne
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  • 7 Comments

7 Comments

C S.
C S. April 28, 2016
I agree that eggs may be the missing ingredient. The whole wheat flour does not provide the gluten structure to give it body that white flour would, so you need something to give the cake some strength. Eggs can provide that, as the protein in them denatures with heat it sets up and gives it structure. The baking powder will give it air bubbles as it rises but there is nothing to firm up the finished cake.

Have you tried letting it cool in the pan, and then turning it out once it is cool? If you use parchment paper in the tin, it should still come out once it is cool, and you can set it on a rack still in the tin, which should help prevent some sogginess on the bottom.
 
Bevi
Bevi April 28, 2016
The best carrot cake I have ever made is the recipe in the Bakery Lane Soup Bowl Cookbook - Freeman Allen's Carrot Cake. Here is the link:
http://www.food.com/recipe/freeman-allens-carrot-cake-36106
 
BerryBaby
BerryBaby April 28, 2016
Strange there are no eggs listed. I would suggest looking up carrot cake recipes online and incorporating some of the ingredients they use. Looks like eggs are missing from your recipe and I'd use cake pans. The batter is most likely too thick to bake through in a loaf pan. Good luck!
 
robert H.
robert H. April 28, 2016
Yes, i think thats best for the next stage of testing. Just strange how my dad followed the same recipe (literally the same piece of paper) years ago and it worked fine
 
BerryBaby
BerryBaby April 28, 2016
It could be that he had left off the eggs on the recipe in error and just knew to add them in. I have done this, overlooked listing an ingredient, but I knew to add it.
 
Smaug
Smaug April 28, 2016
No liquid besides the honey and butter? This really doesn't look right.
 
robert H.
robert H. April 28, 2016
Yeah, no other liquid. the recipe is photocopy from a published book (name unknown).
 
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