Carrot Cake
With Cream Cheese frosting
Ingredients:
For the Carrot Cake
3 eggs
175g Demerera sugar
125g Canola oil
1tsp Vanilla essence
175g Cake flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1tsp Ground cinnamon
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp Salt
250g Grated carrots
60g Toasted, chopped pecan nuts
For the Frosting
180g Soft butter
180g Icing sugar
250g Cream cheese
Method:
For the Carrot Cake
1. In a stand mixer, whisk the sugar and eggs until pale and fluffy.
2. Mix the oil and vanilla, then slowly dribble the oil into the eggs to create an emulsion.
3. Sift the dry ingredients, then add it to the mixer and whisk until there are no more lumps.
4. Remove the mixture from the machine and fold in the grated carrots and nuts.
5. Prepare and grease two 20 cm cake tins and divide the mixture equally between them.
6. Bake at 160˚C for 20-25 mins.
7. Remove from the oven when a skewer comes out clean.
8. Frost and assemble once completely cooled.
For the Frosting
1. Beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth and pale (in a stand mixer, hand mixer or by hand).
2. Add the cream cheese and beat until just combined.
3. Spead the icing about 7mm thick on one of the cakes.
4. Stack the other cake on top of the iced cake.
5. Pipe the remainder of the icing on top.
6. Garnish as desired.
Notes
• The Demerara sugar gives this cake its great flavour, but any dark brown sugar will do (treacle or muscovado).
• Grate the carrots half coarse, half fine it gives the cake a good texture.
• Any nut can be substituted if you wish.
• Garnishing ideas: Nuts, orange segments, orange zest, crumble, honeycomb.