This is the life
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Lifestyle recipes: carrot cake

Carrot Cake
Desi Gaffiero of Lifestyle Hastings generously shares the recipe for her prize winning carrot cake.
Waldorf Astoria carrot cake

Ingredients

Cake

1 cup caster sugar
1 cup peanut or safflower oil
3 eggs
1 ½ cups plain flour
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp Bi-Carb Soda
Pinch of salt
2 cups grated carrots (must be peeled)
Beat sugar, oil and eggs for a minimum of five minutes. Then, mix in combined sifted flour, baking powder, salt, Bi-Carb Soda and cinnamon. Follow with folding-in the carrots and walnuts.
Pour mixture into an 8” tin that has been lined with baking paper. Place into a pre-heated 300 degree Fahrenheit oven and bake for one hour or until skewer comes out clean.

Frosting
4oz creamed full fat Philadelphia cheese (room temp)
1oz soft butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups icing sugar
Beat until smooth and spread over the cake.
Eat and enjoy!
Desi shares that her journey through life has always incorporated her love of food, especially cooking and baking.
After school Desi and her sister would always be with their father in the kitchen, marinating meat, peeling vegetables and creating wonderful sauces to go with the meal of the day. By the age of nine, Desi and Yvette (Desi’s younger sister) created a two course meal for their parents wedding anniversary, even going to the effort of presenting the food as though they were in a restaurant.
Desi’s love of cooking and baking continued and during the ‘90s she decided to enter shows with a very popular cake, being the above carrot cake recipe. The recipe was passed on to Desi in the ‘80s by a close friend that travelled extensively and stayed many times in New York City at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel. This recipe originated at The Waldorf, being passed to Desi’s friend by the Chef there at the time.
Desi says “I felt so privileged and as a result I baked this cake at every opportunity”. From 1994-1997 she entered the carrot cake as well as several other baked goods in the Royal Melbourne, Healesville and District Shows as well as the Lilydale Agricultural & Horticultural Society Shows. Desi was the winner of five First Place Awards over during that time. We thank Desi for sharing this recipe and congratulate her on her achievements!


Image source: taste.com.au