Brazilian Carrot Cake

Bolo de cenoura com cobertura de chocolate

Brazilian carrot cake is very different from American carrot cake, and at first glance, you might not even recognize that it’s actually carrot cake. The first thing you might notice is that there’s not cream cheese icing on top. Instead there is a layer of chocolate covering the top of the cake which is the traditional way to make the cake in Brazil.

I noticed a discrepancy when I first ate Brazilian carrot cake about three weeks ago and researching it online today. For one, most Brazilian carrot cake is more golden than orange, although the cake I ate looked fairly orange to me (as you can see in the picture). Also, Brazilian carrot cake is supposed to be a lot lighter and less dense than American carrot cake. I did not find this true for the Brazilian carrot cake that my boyfriend’s mom made. It was perhaps a little lighter, but nothing substantial and I would be reluctant to call it “fluffy” as one website described the texture.

Like anything that you make no matter what country, you can always alter recipes and add or substitute ingredients. I have been fortunate enough to have had Brazilian carrot cake made for me more than once. One time, there was coconut in it, and the other time there were coconut shavings and nuts in the cake. Unlike American carrot cake though, there were no nuts in either cake I had.

Here is a recipe I found online, which looks much lighter than the version I had.

Brazilian Carrot Cake • Bolo de Cenoura

Total Time: 1 Hour

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs

Chocolate syrup:

• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons powder chocolate
• 1 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Prepare the cake:

1. Place the eggs, oil, carrots, and sugar in a blender. Beat well.
2. Add dry mixture, bit by bit, into the liquid carrot mixture.
3. With a whisk, mix until turn it becomes a homogenous mass.
4. Grease pan with butter and flour. Pour in the batter.
5. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake for 40 minutes.
6. Remove the cake from oven, and allow it to cool while you make the syrup.

Prepare the syrup:

1. In a saucepan, place sugar, powdered chocolate, milk, and butter.
2. Cook the mixture, stirring continuously, for about 10 minutes on medium heat.
3. The topping is ready when it's the texture of chocolate syrup.

http://brazigzag.com/food/brazilian-carrot-cake-bolo-de-cenoura/