Friday, January 27, 2012

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake ~ Kepek Unlu Havuclu Kek









When I was in Turkey over the holidays, I came across with a wonderful book – which can be translated as “Pastries/baking without White Flour and White Sugar” by Arzu Aygen and Ulfet Aygen. The book has 100 recipes with 100% natural ingredients: no refined sugar, no processed white flour, no iodized salt.
Written by a mother and daughter, it is a healthy baking book full of amazingly light recipes, but the storyline is so captivating that it reads like a novel. There is a nice story or a few cooking tips for every recipe, it makes you feel like reading an nice family memoir than a bunch of baking recettes.

I was dying to try a recipe from the book, I don't know how many times I looked through the book.

Finally, the day has came yesterday. It was the perfect time for the WHOLE WHEAT CARROT CAKE! The author, Arzu Aygen, explains that cakes baked with molasses might taste a little different for the first time but once you get used it, refined sugar will taste too sweet.

I loved the taste of the cake! It turned out to be an amazingly moist cake with great flavor. My sister whose blood sugar levels above normal human beings said that she had three slices in the morning.

Another tip from the book calls that all ingredients should be at the room temperature and you need to beat eggs thoroughly -- which I did for 10 minutes.

I made minor alterations on the recipe by replacing some spices and adding raisins:

2 cups of 100% whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves (I used nutmeg instead)
½ teaspoon coconut flakes
½ teaspoon sea salt
3 cups of grated carrots (should equal to 5-6 small carrots)
1 cup of walnuts pieces (I only put ½ cup of walnuts and I added ½ cup of raisins)
2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt
4 eggs (room temperature)
¾ cups of olive oil
1 cup of molasses

1- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the rack in the middle of the oven. Grease and flour a 9-inch baking pan.
2- Mix flour, baking powder and the rest of the spices in a bowl.
3- Mix the shredded carrots, walnuts, raisins and yogurt in a separate bowl and let them sit.
4- Beat the eggs thoroughly for 10 minutes until they are fluffy. Add the olive oil and molasses, keep mixing.
5- Add the flour mixture first, and then the carrot mixture. Use a wooden spoon to mix the whole ingredients together. Unlike the eggs, flour should not be beaten for a long time. The proteins in flour get tougher and would spoil the texture of the cake.
6- Pour the mixture into the baking pan. Bake for almost an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7- Let the cake rest for 10 minutes in the baking pan. Release the cake afterwards and let it cool on a rack.


In the book, it is suggested that you can serve the cake with light cream or strained yogurt. I suggest some strained yogurt drizzled with some honey if you need an icing. 

___________________________________________________________________________________

Kepek Unlu Havuclu Kek

Yilbasi tatili icin Turkiye'deyken, Arzu ve Ulfet Aygen'in Beyaz Unsuz ve Sekersiz Hamur Isleri kitabiyla karsilastim. 100 tane %100 dogal tarif iceren bu kitabi elime aldigimdan gunden beri kendisiyle buyuk bir ask yasiyorum. Pekmez, dogal bugday unu, kaya tuzu gibi islenmemis, dogal malzemeler kullanan kitap o kadar guzel ve icten bir dille yazilmis ki, yemek kitabindan cok bir ani defteri gibi. Gozunuzu kapasaniz o saniye, Arzu hanim ve annesi size tarifleri kendileri anlatiyormus gibi hissedebilirsiniz.

11 saatlik Istanbul- New York ucaginda bile beni oldukca oyalayan bu guzel kitaptan, bir tarif denemek ise gecen hafta nasip oldu sonunda. Gecen hafta Kepek Unlu Havuclu Kek yaptim!

Arzu Aygen kitapta pekmezle pisen keklerin tadinin biraz farkli gelicegini ama o tada alisinca, rafine sekerin tadinin rahatsiz edicegini yazmis. Gercekten basta tadi biraz kekremsi geliyor ama bu tada hemen alisinca lezzeti bir kek yiyorsunuz. Normal bir insanin yedigi sekerin 10 katiyla beslenen kizkardesim Deniz'in bile 3 dilim yemesi bu guzel tarifin basarisinin kaniti.

1-2 kucuk degisiklik yaptim ama tarif ve malzemeler asagidaki gibi:

2 su bardagi tam bugday unu
1 tatli kasigi karbonat
1 tatli kasigi tarcin
½ tatli kasigi toz karanfil (ben evde karanfil olmadigi icin muskat -nutmeg- kullandim)
½ tatli kasigi hindistan cevizi
¼ tatli kasigi dogal kaya tuzu
3 su bardagi havus rendesi (5-6 tane kadar)
1 su bardagi ceviz (ben yarim bardak ceviz, yarim bardak kuru uzum koydum0
2 corba kasigi yogurt
1,5 cay bardagi zeytinyagi
1 su bardagi pekmez

santim capinda bir kek kalibini yaglayip, unlayin. Firini 160 dereceye isitin.
2- Un ve karbonati eleyin, baharatlari ekleyin.
3- Havuc, ceviz, kuru uzum ve yogurtu ayri bir kapta bekletin.
4- Yumurtalari 10 dakika kadar iyice kabarana dek cirpin. Zeytinyagi ve pekmezi ekleyin. Karistirdiktan sonra icine once unlu, sonra havuclu karisimi ekleyin. Tahta bir kasikla butun malzemeleri birbirine karistirin. Yumurtanin aksine icine un eklenmis kek karisimlarinin fazla cirpilmamasi gerekir. Icindeki proteinler sertlestir ve kekin dokusu bozulur cunku.
5- Hazirladiginiz kaba koyup yaklasik 1 saat, kekin ortasina batirdiginiz kurdan temiz cikana kadar pisirin.
6- Firindan cikan keki 10 dakika dinledirin. Bicak yardimiyla keki kaliptan cikartip, tel izgara uzerinde sogumaya birakin.

Kitapta bu nefis keki krema veya yogurtla servis edebiliceginiz yaziyor. Benim tavsiyem yogurt ve uzerine biraz bal gezdirmeniz

7 comments:

  1. Great Recipe I will try of course without yogurt due to dairy free reasons ...love your blog keep posting please

    ReplyDelete
  2. will try when I get home, sounds delicious

    ReplyDelete
  3. sounds delicious, will try when I get home

    ReplyDelete
  4. Damlacim nazik yorumun icin tesekkurler
    Siten cok yummy gozukuyor
    Birazdan havuclu keki denicem
    Sevgiler

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah cok mutlu ettiniz beni ziyaretinizle Etel hanim! Simdiden ellerinize saglik, gene gelin :)

    ReplyDelete