Traditional Brazilian Carrot Cake with Chocolate

This is the Brazilian carrot cake my mom has been baking since I was a little girl. It’s a simple recipe, but it tastes divine!

Seriously. I’ve been baking/eating this carrot cake chocolate recipe my whole life and still love it.

It’s a fun dessert to make. Besides, it tastes great with a cup of coffee!

How not to love it, right?

Brazilian carrot cake is nicely moist and fluffy, smells like a sunny morning in spring, has a beautiful bright dough, and the chocolate sauce has a sweet finishing touch.

Granted, it isn’t as moist as this Brazilian coconut cake or the Brigadeiro cake, but still – it’s divine!

Beyond that, this recipe for blender carrot cake is straightforward, and you only need a couple of tools, including a blender. It can’t get easier than that, can it?

Traditional Brazilian carrot cake

This Brazilian carrot cake, or bolo de cenoura in Portuguese, is one of the most traditional Brazilian cake recipes out there, together with this orange cake.

If you want to get to know Brazilian cuisine, this recipe is an excellent starting point.

What’s the key to a great Brazilian carrot cake?

• Blend the carrots well so that the cake won’t get heavy and dense.
• Always sift dry ingredients and mix them gently by hand to remove the bigger pieces and make the dough smoother.
• Don’t open the oven before at least 80% of the baking time has passed, or the cake will sink.
• Wait for the cake to cool down for about 10-15 minutes before removing the springform pan.

How to store Brazilian carrot cake

You can keep your cake in the fridge for up to 5 days, but it might become a little dry.

Alternatively, you can keep it at room temperature under a cake dome.

When to serve this blender carrot cake

You can serve this Brazilian cake all year round, accompanied by a cup of freshly made coffee or tea in the afternoon.

Having said that, this cake has a unique appeal during Easter.

What you’ll need

These are the ingredients and equipment you will need to make a delicious carrot cake with chocolate.

Equipment

• Blender
• Sieve
• Mixing bowls
• Spatula
• Measuring cups/spoons
• Cake tester (or any other long, pointy object)
• Springform pan (9-inch/23-centimeter diameter)
• Cooling rack

How to make Brazilian carrot cake

In just a few easy steps, you can make a delish Brazilian carrot cake. So let’s get to it!

Preheat the oven at 350°F/180°C.

Butter the springform pan and dust flour through it or spray a thin layer of cooking spray on it.

Be sure to remove the excess flour and set aside.

This makes it easier to remove the cake from the pan once it has cooled down.

In a large bowl, add the baking powder to the flour and mix the ingredients delicately. Set aside.

Crack the eggs one by one into a small bowl, transferring each one of them to the blender before cracking the next egg. This way, one spoilt egg won’t ruin your beautiful batter.

Add the oil, salt, sugar, and peeled carrots cut in chunks to the blender and blend until it’s homogeneous.

Pour the mixture into the large bowl with flour and mix gently until all flour has incorporated.

Now, pour the batter into the springform pan and bake it for approximately 50 minutes.

Before removing your carrot cake from the oven, stick the cake tester or a toothpick into the middle of the cake.

If it comes out dry, your cake is done. If not, give it a few more minutes and try again.

Once you’re done, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down for 10-15 minutes before removing the springform pan.

Chocolate sauce

Here at home, we all love this Brazilian dessert – no doubt about that.

But when it comes down to the glaze/sauce, the opinions are quite divided.

There are two chocolate sauces you can make for the carrot cake. One is thinner and sweeter, the other has an enhanced chocolate flavor, but it is a tad thicker.

I will describe both sauces below, but the recipe card ingredients at the bottom, as well as the ones mentioned above, belong to the sauce #1.

Sauce 1:

While the cake cools down, add the chocolate powder, sugar, butter, and water to a small non-stick pan.

Over medium heat, stir the mixture continually until it starts to boil.

Once it boils, keep stirring for 1-2 more minutes, and as soon as the sauce starts to let go of the bottom, remove it from the heat.

Remove the springform pan and pour the chocolate sauce onto the cake.

Sauce 2:

For extra rich flavor, you can use a brigadeiro glaze instead of the one above.

In that case, use half of the quantities in this brigadeiro recipe and add table cream after you have removed it from the heat. For the table cream, use the same amount you used for sweetened condensed milk.

Stir it well, and once the mixture has a smooth texture, you can pour it onto the cake.

Enjoy!

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