How many times have you been tempted by the cake sitting on the counter at the coffee shop? Occasionally I do succumb to my temptations and grab a slice to share with my coffee mates but most times I tell myself I will make it at home and everybody can have some. So one Saturday I randomly decided I wanted to bake myself a feel good homely carrot cake. Did I have the ingredients I needed? No!! I didn’t have the brown sugar and only had a few broken pieces of walnuts left in an almost empty bag. But the thought of having a proper piece of carrot cake served up on a little plate made me determined to fly over any obstacles in my way. I made it with what I had and it turned out to be the most delicious, airy carrot cake I had ever had and I am going to give you the recipe EXACTLY the way I made it!
Ingredients for the cake sponges
2 cups self raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon ground clove powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg powder
1/3 cup almonds (grounded using using a food processor)
2 full cups of grated carrots (thats about 4 or 5 carrots worth)
3 eggs
1 and 1/4 cup sugar (I used normal white granulated)
3/4 cup sunflower oil ( or a vegetable oil – NOT olive oil as its too thick)
1 teaspoon vanilla flavouring
1 teaspoon honey and 1 teaspoon of caramel flavour ( I used these because I wanted to compensate not having brown sugar but I would say the honey and the caramel flavour is optional)
2 tablepoons orange juice ( I used Tropicana original)
A handful of raisins
Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting
150g softened salted butter
150g cream cheese ( I used philadelphia full fat)
2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla flavouring
2 teaspoons milk
Walnuts to decorate (they also add to the mouthwatering experience!)
Method
Preheat your oven at 180 C.
Grease and line two 9 inch round cake pans.
Place the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, caramel and honey into a bowl and whisk until smooth (about 30 seconds using an electric hand whisk).
Put the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and all of the spices into a big mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add the carrots into the bowl and toss to coat the carrots with the flour mixture. Stir in the ground almonds to distribute evenly.
Pour the wet mixture into the carrot mixture and mix well to combine (about 45 seconds using an electric whisk).
Add the orange juice. Wash the raisins and add the WET raisins into the bowl. Mix well until all the ingredients in the cake batter are well combined.
DIvide the batter into the two prepared cake pans.
TURN DOWN your oven to 160C
Bake the cakes for 28 mins or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let your cakes rest for 10 minutes in the pans. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool faster. If you do not have a rack, leave the cakes to cool in their pans in a cooler area of your room.
Meanwhile make your cream cheese frosting.
Whip the butter until creamy and pale.
Add the cream cheese and whip until smooth.
Add one cup of the icing sugar and beat until creamy.
Add the vanilla and another 1/2 cup of sugar. Beat again.
Add the lemon juice and remaining sugar and beat the frosting until pale.
Add the milk and whip until light, smooth and creamy.
To assemble your cake, place one of the cake sponges onto a serving dish of your choice. Smooth over half of the frosting. Place the second sponge on top. Spread over the remaining frosting. Use a palate knife or spoon to create some texture lines or swirls as you spread the icing over the top of the cake. Top the cake with the walnuts as neatly or as rustically as you like. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 mins to set up slightly. Remove the cake from the refrigerator 15 mins prior to serving.
This cake stores well in the refrigerator for about 4 days. Its so easy to make, you can get the kids involved and have the cake ready in a couple of hours using ingredients you have at home.
TIP: Why not use this recipe to make carrot cake muffins? Just make the batter and frosting as directed in the recipe and fill about 18 cupcake cases depending on how much you fill them. The cooking times may be a few minutes less (always use the cocktail stick doneness test!). This recipe makes a lovely light cupcake. For a denser carrot cake cupcake recipe, click on this post.
7 Almonds 