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The Wolseley City Carrot Cake
A Brief History
Though it’s a favourite of grand European cafés, carrot cake has a rich origin story. It’s rumoured that it first came to the fore in the Middle Ages, when sugar was still a luxury reserved for royalty. Bakers, looking for a natural sweetener, soon discovered the versatility of the humble root vegetable. Carrots provided both essential sweetness and moisture.
The concept gradually evolved over the centuries. A French carrot cake appeared in volume two of L’art du cuisinier, a weighty cooking manual created by Antoine Beauvilliers, restaurateur and one-time chef to Louis XVI, and was immediately adopted by the English when his book was published in London in 1824.
The cake gradually fell out of favour in the intervening years, before having its fortunes reversed in the 1940s, when rationing prompted inventive bakers to once again turn to vegetables for sweetness. Its popularity heightened further in the 1960s, coinciding with a growing health food movement that further exalted the virtues of the humble carrot (valiantly ignoring the slightly decadent cake context).
A little more mysterious is the provenance of the cream cheese frosting that elevates this humble cake. Striking the perfect balance between creamy, savoury and citrusy, it’s a moreish partner to the dessert’s depth and spice. It began to be paired specifically with carrot cake in the 1960s, but the frosting itself was likely born from advertisements for Philadelphia’s Cream Cheese in the early 1900s, when the brand first began to publish recipes for a sweetened cheese frosting said to be a sturdier option than butter cream and therefore more practical in hotter, southern states.
Our Recipe
Of course, in our opinion, the setting plays a vital part in enjoying this cake to the fullest: a white linened table, silverware, a pot of steaming tea or coffee and a crisp white napkin. But if you’re keen to recreate The Wolseley experience at home, we’re entrusting you with our recipe. (Ours is finished with caramelised almonds and playful marzipan carrots and secured with a thin layer of chocolate on the base – we couldn’t persuade our pastry chef to part with those special details, but this is a faithful recipe for the cake and filling). Keep it under your hat:
THE WOLSELEY CARROT CAKE
For the sponge (serves 13)
1000g caster sugar; 1000g dark brown sugar; 1200g whole egg; 1200g vegetable oil; 1440g soft flour; 40g bicarbonate of soda; 40g baking powder; 30g ground cinnamon; 20g salt; 2000g grated carrot; 900g crushed walnuts
Method
Ready cake rings with silicone paper and pre-heat oven to 175c. Whisk the eggs and both sugars until thick and pale. Slowly stream in the veg oil (being careful to avoid splitting). Fold in the sieved dry ingredients followed by the carrots and walnuts. Weigh at 600 grams per ring and bake for approximately 40 minutes.
Cream cheese icing (for each cake)
100g butter; 175g icing sugar; 200g cream cheese; juice of 1 lemon
Beat the butter and sugar until light. Add the cream cheese and re-beat until light again, before folding in the lemon juice. Taste to test ensuring a citrusy flavour. Enjoy.
