Hairy Bikers Diet Carrot Cake

239 calories a slice is printed above the recipe, so the number is theirs and not mine. Hairy Bikers diet carrot cake sits on page 156 of The Hairy Dieters, where it serves ten and takes 1 hour 48 minutes.

Si and Dave admit in The Hairy Dieters that you cannot be eating cake every day when you are trying to lose weight, though they reckon “a little of what you fancy can’t be all bad”. Oil replaces the butter entirely here, which is where a good part of the saving comes from.

Weigh the carrots after grating rather than before, since three medium ones at 250g unpeeled come down to about 200g once peeled. The recipe tells you that figure rather than leaving you to guess, which is worth following in a cake this lean.

Hairy Bikers Diet Carrot Cake Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Baking Cuisine:British Courses:Snack

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 20 minutesCook time: 28 minutesRest time:1 hour Total time:1 hour 48 minutesServings:10 servingsCalories:239 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Eggs get whisked with oil and sugar before the grated carrot goes in, then the flour, sultanas, orange zest, spices and baking powder are stirred through until only just combined. It bakes in a 23cm round tin at a fairly high heat for under half an hour. A dusting of icing sugar and some orange zest finish it.

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 3 medium carrots, about 250g total unpeeled weight
• 3 large eggs
• 100ml sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
• 100g soft light brown sugar
• 200g self-raising flour
• 100g sultanas
• Finely grated zest of ½ large well-scrubbed orange
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp grated nutmeg
• 1½ tsp baking powder

For the Decoration:

• 2 tsp icing sugar
• Finely pared or grated zest of ½ well-scrubbed orange

Instructions

1. Prepare the tin and carrots: Heat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5, grease a 23cm round loose-based cake tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment. Peel the carrots and grate them on a medium-fine grater, which should give you about 200g.
2. Whisk the wet ingredients: Beat the eggs in a large bowl with a large metal whisk, then add the sunflower oil and sugar and whisk until well combined.
3. Add everything else: Stir in the grated carrot, then add the flour, sultanas, orange zest, spices and baking powder. Stir together until only just combined.
4. Bake it: Pour into the tin and smooth the surface, then bake in the centre of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. It is ready when well risen, springy to the touch and just starting to shrink back from the sides.
5. Cool it: Leave it in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the lining paper and let it cool fully on a wire rack before moving it to a plate.
6. Decorate: Sift the icing sugar over the top and scatter over the grated or pared orange zest.

FAQs

Where does 239 calories actually come from?

It is printed on the page next to the ingredients, so it is the book’s figure rather than something worked out afterwards. Every recipe in The Hairy Dieters carries one.

The saving sits in three places. There is 100ml of oil where the full-fat version takes 175ml, 100g of sugar where that one takes 175g, and no pecans at all where the carrot cake in British Classics puts 75g through the batter and another 25g on top. That is 490 calories a square against 239 a slice.

Is it still a healthy carrot cake with frosting on?

Less so, and the book is straight about that. There is a version for it though. Spread a 200g tub of light soft cheese over the cooled cake, scatter grated orange zest and sift over the icing sugar. Si and Dave note you are adding calories, but it is one tub and nothing else.

What makes that work is what is missing from it. No butter, no icing sugar beaten in, no full-fat cheese. Light soft cheese goes on straight from the fridge, which is a job of about a minute rather than the beat-and-chill routine a proper cream cheese frosting needs.

Why is the oven hotter than most cake recipes?

190°C for 25 to 30 minutes, which is hotter and shorter than most cakes. The tin is a 23cm round, so the mixture sits shallow and does not need the long slow bake a deeper cake would.

Go by the cue the recipe gives rather than the clock. It wants to be well risen, springy, and just beginning to shrink back from the sides of the tin. That last one is the reliable sign, because a cake that has started pulling away has set.

How long does it keep, and does the grater matter?

Up to three days in the fridge, which the book states directly. Bring a slice back to room temperature before eating it, since fridge-cold cake always tastes drier than it is, and if the soft cheese topping is on then the fridge is not optional.

On the grater, medium-fine is specified for a reason worth knowing. Coarse shreds stay visibly stringy in a cake this shallow, while a fine grater turns the carrot to pulp and you lose the moisture it is there to provide. The metal whisk for the eggs matters less, it is just what moves 100ml of oil into three eggs fastest.

What else is worth cooking from this book?

There is one more from The Hairy Dieters on the site, and it shows the same thinking on a dinner rather than a bake. Diet paprika chicken feeds six at 282 calories, built on skinless thighs, smoked paprika and a tin of tomatoes with no cream anywhere.

Both recipes work the same way. Nothing is replaced with a substitute, the quantities of fat and sugar are simply pulled back and the flavour is turned up to cover the difference.