Time flies! Can’t believe another Lunar Chinese New Year (CNY) has just come and gone. This CNY Blessings Carrot Cake was a Chinese New Year bake, inspired by a wish to bless my dear Sister on her birthday as Lunar New Year 2019 came around.

Why a CNY Blessings Carrot Cake? What has Blessings got to do with Carrot?

Well, the Chinese believe our food must include auspicious ingredients as we celebrate and welcome the New Year. And the humble Carrot is just one of our favorite and well loved providential roots, especially during New Year festivities. 

In mandarin, Carrot sounds like the term “好彩头” which means good fortune and is considered an auspicious symbol of blessings at Chinese New Year celebrations.

Therefore what better than a CNY Blessings Carrot Cake to usher in prosperity, wealth, health and good fortune for a dear Sister.

To call this CNY Blessings Carrot Cake just another carrot cake would be IMHO disrespectful. This CNY Blessings Carrot Cake is, if I may say so, the Empress Dowager of Carrot Cakes. It is Royal in bearing, Majestic in countenance and Resplendent to behold 🤩🤩

And it tastes as good as it looks. Soft, moist carrot cake, beautifully spiced with cinnamon and perfect with a low-sugar lemony cream cheese frosting. Yup, not kidding, only 4 tablespoons of icing sugar in the frosting.

CNY BLESSINGS CARROT CAKE STEP=BY-STEP TUTORIAL

Finally, an auspicious Blessings Red Packet (红包）suspended in mid-air crowns the cake, magically pouring out sweet blessings and prosperity, symbolized by the gold coins and three types of delicious Ferrero chocolates (财源滚滚).

This CNY Blessings Carrot Cake simply welcomes and embraces the coming 新春, New Spring as we call it. Royalty indeed and certainly worthy of homage 😊

This is my go-to Carrot Cake recipe. A simple and easy recipe (Whisk by Hand!) which makes a delicious and incredibly moist Carrot Cake! Check out the video below.

*Note: I doubled this Easy Carrot Cake recipe to make a bigger cake for the CNY Blessings Carrot Cake.

EASY CARROT CAKE STEP=BY-STEP TUTORIAL

If you like these recipe tutorials and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here!

And if you like this CNY Blessings Carrot Cake, you may also like my other Chinese New Year recipes:

• Easy Florentines, our favorite Chinese New Year snack
• Grandpa’s Hainanese Mutton Soup
• How to make your own Lohei
• Homemade Ba Kwa
• My MIL’s Yummy Pineapple Tarts
  
• Pistachio Matcha Pineapple Tarts
• Kaffir Lime Spiced Nuts
• Laksa Cookie

What to Watch Out For …..

• The Carrot Cake recipe is an easy 3 step recipe and quite fail proof. 1) Separately mix the dry and wet ingredients 2) Combine the two 3) Bake!  

• Watch the frosting when adding the heavy cream. Do not overbeat or the heavy cream might curdle and the frosting will be grainy. Alternatively, if unsure of this step, you can beat the heavy cream to soft peaks on its own, and then combine with the cream cheese using a spatula. Texture of the cream cheese should be smooth and spreadable – watch it @2.25 min of the Easy Carrot Cake video.

• The KEY to the success of this CNY Blessings Carrot Cake IS the ASSEMBLY. Be patient in the assembly and decoration. Especially if you are living in sunny weather (average 34°C) like I am, give the chocolates sufficient chilling time to secure and stick well.

Chilling in the fridge to have a solid structure

• I chilled the cake intermittently (2-3 times) for 15 -20 minutes intervals during the decoration to allow the structure to solidify well. BE PATIENT and DON’T MISS this step. Otherwise you may chance Ferrero chocolates rolling off at will, just when the cake is served.

• This is a TALL cake,  almost 32cm or 12 inches once it is fully assembled. If you are serving this at home, everything is fine and good. Just out from the refrigerator and onto the table.

• However, if you are bringing this cake to a party (like I was), you will need to get a tall box that can fit the cake. And transport carefully! That’s why it’s imperative to chill the cake and structure well during assembly so that the fully decked out CNY Blessings Carrot Cake is super sturdy and stable, in particular during transport.

This CNY Blessings Carrot Cake is such a stunning and beautiful cake that it will be a winner at any celebrations. The Red Packet can be easily substituted with any other similar sized gift box to make it a Christmas or Thanksgiving Blessings Cake. The alternatives are limitless, just go with your imagination!

Try it and bask in the oohs and aahs of your cake audience! 😀 

Did you make this? I would love to know how it turned out. Tell me more 😊!  Please leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram or FB hashtag #thesugarcrumble 

Print Recipe

CNY Blessings Carrot Cake

A beautiful Chinese New Year (CNY) Blessings Carrot Cake to welcome Lunar New Year 2019! Delicious, Festive and a Feast for the Eyes signifying 福, all blessings and good tidings for the year ahead! 

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Chilling time3 hours hrs

Total Time3 hours hrs 55 minutes mins

Servings: 2 x 6 inch round pans

Author: Kai

Ingredients

***For CNY Blessings Carrot Cake (please double the CAKE and FROSTING recipe below for 2 x 8 inch rounds serving)

CAKE

Dry ingredients

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Wet ingredients

• 150 ml oil
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups grated peeled carrots (~ 2 medium carrots)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

FROSTING

• 250 g cream cheese
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 3-4 tbsp icing sugar

DECORATIONS

• Melted dark chocolate (using 1/2 cup dark chips & 2 tbsp of heavy cream)
• Melted white chocolate (using 1/2 cup white chips & 2 tbsp of heavy cream)
• 21 cm metal straw (inserted with a ~ 6cm bendable plastic straw)
• Ferrero chocolate collection (I used ~50 pieces)
• Decorative gold coins (optional)
• Big velvet “Blessings” Red Packet

Instructions

CAKE

• Heat the oven to 175C. Line the two round cake pans with parchment paper and lightly grease the sides.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients until well blended. In a separate bowl, add the wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Switch to a large rubber spatula and mix in the dry ingredients in 2-3 parts. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and make sure it is well mixed. Stir in the shredded carrots and nuts.
• Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans. Bake until the tops of the cake layers are springy when touched and when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean ～ 35 to 45 minutes.
Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes then turn out onto cooling racks, peel off parchment paper and cool completely.

FROSTING

• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with a handheld mixer on low speed until softened ～ 1 minute. Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest and icing sugar and beat for 30 sec. Gradually add heavy cream and beat on medium speed until the frosting is smooth and spreadable ~1 minute. Chill covered until ready to frost cake. 

Assembly & Decoration

• Level the top of the cakes when the cake layers are completely cool. Frost the top of one cake layer. Place the second cake layer on top. Crumb coat the top and sides and freeze for 30 minutes. Add a second frosting layer and smoothen the sides and top of the cake. Chill in the fridge for an hour before décor.
• Microwave the dark and white chocolate with the heavy cream in 30 sec bursts until melted. Set aside.
• Separately, insert a 6 cm bendable plastic straw into a 21cm metal straw. Place the combined straw into the carrot cake ~ 2 inches from the edge of the cake. Coat the straw with the melted chocolate.
• Using the chocolate ganache as edible glue, gently coat the Ferrero chocolates with it and attach it to the straw. You may need to hold them where they are placed for several seconds, in order for the Ferrero chocolates to stick securely.
• Dress up the entire straw with the Ferroro chocolates and decorative gold coins, leaving only the bended tip of the plastic straw exposed. During this process, if the weather is too humid for the chocolates to attach well, chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes intervals as required, to solidify the structure before continuing. Once the straw is fully decked out, chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until ready to serving.
• Just before serving, pad the Blessings (福) Red Packet with crushed baking paper so that it looks filled. Place the mouth of the packet over the remaining exposed tip of the straw and voila!.. the Blessings Red Packet is now suspended in mid air and magically pouring out chocolate blessings unto the carrot cake!
• Serve and BASK in the oohs and ahhs of your cake audience ☺

Video

Notes

If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here 😊

 

• The Carrot Cake recipe is an easy 3 step recipe and quite fail proof. 1) Separately mix the dry and wet ingredients  2) Combine the two  3) Bake!  

 

• Watch the frosting when adding the heavy cream. Do not overbeat or the heavy cream might curdle and the frosting will be grainy. Alternatively, if unsure of this step, you can separately beat the heavy cream to soft peaks and combine with the cream cheese using a spatula. Texture of the cream cheese should be smooth and spreadable - watch it @2.25 min of the Easy Carrot Cake video above.

 

• The KEY to the success of this CNY Blessings Carrot Cake IS the ASSEMBLY. Be patient in the assembly and decoration. Especially if you are living in sunny weather (average 34°C) like I am, give the chocolates sufficient chilling time to be secure and stick well.

 

• I chilled the cake intermittently (2-3 times) for 15 -20 minutes intervals during the decoration to allow the structure to solidify well. BE PATIENT and DON’T MISS this step. Otherwise you may chance Ferrero chocolates rolling off at will just when the cake is served.

 

• This is a TALL cake, almost 32cm or 12 inches once it is fully assembled. If you are serving this at home, everything is fine and good. Just out from the refrigerator and onto the table.

 

• However, if you are bringing this cake to a party (like I was), you will need to get a tall box that can fit the cake. And transport carefully! That’s why it’s imperative to chill the cake and structure well during assembly so that the fully decked out CNY Blessings Carrot Cake is super sturdy and stable, in particular during transport.