The inspiration behind this recipe is my grandmother, to whom I owe my baking and patisserie skills. She moulded and mentored me when I felt alone in the field.

My grandma had to escape from Lahore to Ahmedabad with her three children when India and Pakistan were cleaved. To sustain her family, she started cooking, baking and teaching home science. Besides baking, grandma loved gardening. She would grow vegetables in her garden and ferment them into pickles for sale.

I used to visit her in the summer holidays and together we would make carrot halwa cake out of carrots growing in the garden. For her age, she was very innovative: she taught me how to make a cake in a pressure cooker.

On her first death anniversary, I wanted to bake something that reminded me of her. Flipping through her recipe diary, I settled on something nostalgic. This recipe is inspired by a traditional carrot cake recipe she taught me, but I have made it into an entremet by incorporating lemon cream, apricot compote and a Linzer biscuit.

  • Serves

    5

  • Cook Time

    02 h 00 m

    Plus prep time of 30 mins

Ingredients

For Linzer Base

  • 90 gm flour
  • 30 gm icing sugar
  • 18 gm potato flour or semolina
  • 15 gm cooked egg yolks
  • ¾ tsp sea salt
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Baking paper

Preparation

For Linzer Base

  1. Cream the butter with lemon zest and icing sugar.
  2. Add in the cooked egg yolks and knead with remaining dry ingredients.
  3. Chill the dough for 30 mins in the fridge and roll between 2 sheets of baking paper to 3 mm thickness.
  4. Bake at 170 degree Celsius for 10-12 mins or until golden brown.

Ingredients

For Carrot Cake

  • 200 gm sugar
  • 150 gm canola oil or olive oil
  • 130 gm flour
  • 110 gm eggs
  • 60 gm walnuts
  • 6 gm cinnamon powder
  • 4 gm baking powder
  • 4 medium carrots, grated

Preparation

For Carrot Cake

  1. Whisk eggs and sugar until creamy. First fold in the dry ingredients and, in the end, the oil, grated carrots and walnuts.
  2. Line the baking sheet with the mixture and bake at 180 degree Celsius.

Ingredients

For Apricot Compote Jelly

  • 250 gm apricot puree
  • 50 gm orange juice
  • 50 gm sugar
  • 4 gm pectin

Preparation

For Apricot Compote Jelly

  1. Warm the puree, juice and sugar, and then add in the pectin.
  2. Boil the compote to achieve a thick spreadable consistency.

Ingredients

For Carrot Cream Cheese Mousse

  • 660 gm whipped cream
  • 528 gm cream cheese
  • 400 gm red carrot puree
  • 176 gm sugar
  • 100 gm egg yolk
  • 100 gm grated red carrot
  • 33 gm icing sugar
  • 26 gm gelatine
  • 55 ml water

Preparation

For Carrot Cream Cheese Mousse

  1. Whisk the yolks, water and sugar in a bain marie until it reaches a thick ribbon consistency.
  2. Next whisk in KitchenAid and let it cool.
  3. In the meantime, melt the cream cheese and icing sugar. Add in the gelatine and carrot puree.
  4. Fold the cream cheese mixture into the beaten egg yolks and sugar mixture.
  5. Finally, gently fold in the whipped cream and grated red carrots.

Ingredients

For Lemon Cream

  • 162 gm lemon puree
  • 324 gm eggs
  • 250 gm whipping cream (35.5%)
  • 238 gm butter
  • 216 gm castor sugar
  • 8 gm gelatine
  • Zest of 3 lemons

Preparation

For Lemon Cream

  1. In a sauce pan, boil lemon puree and 125 gm butter.
  2. Whisk castor sugar and eggs in a round-bottom bowl, and add the boiling puree mixture to temper them. Put this mixture back on the flame and keep whisking until lemon custard boils and thickens, without burning on the sides and the bottom of the saucepan.
  3. Remove off the flame and add the gelatine, making sure it is completely dissolved and melted. Cool down the lemon custard until it is lukewarm.
  4. Toss in the remaining 113 gm butter and blend with a hand blender to achieve the smooth consistency of a lemon curd.
  5. Lastly, whip the cream and fold into the lemon curd.

For Assembly

  1. Layer the carrot cake with apricot compote, carrot mousse and lemon cream in this order.
  2. Freeze the layers and cut in rectangle or square strips for individual portions.
  3. Place the dessert on the Linzer base that is cut to the same size of the dessert.

Decoration

  1. Layer fresh whipped cream and pipe drops of apricot compote.
  2. For garnish, add fresh baby carrot and decorate with pumpkin seeds and microgreens.

Written by

Sanjana Patel

Sanjana Patel is the Co-Founder, Creative Director and Executive Chef at La Folie, where she manages their luxury segment. The passion that drove her to build the brand reflects her love for the beautiful, handcrafted French chocolates and pâtisserie. She received graduate degrees in Food Management in London and Chocolate Technology in Germany, before moving to Ecole Grégoire Ferrandi, one of the most respected pastry and chocolate art schools in the world. Over the years, she has received national and global accolades. She was crowned India’s Pastry Queen in 2015 and ranked the 4th Best Pastry Chef globally at the World Pastry Queen Competition in 2016.

See more by Sanjana Patel