Carrot Cake

When it comes to carrot cake there's plenty of opportunity to go mad with sultanas and nuts but for true carrot cake, classic carrot cake here is a no frills recipe that allows the natural sweet flavour of the carrot to come through. I've livened it up in the topping, but what you do with the decoration is up to you.

Ingredients

275g Plain Flour

400g Caster Sugar

4 eggs

1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

350ml Vegetable Oil

375g Carrots

Pinch of Salt

Sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together into a bowl.

Lightly whisk up the eggs and then add the sugar, whisking it all up until light and airy.

Now add the oil in a steady stream, whisking it all in. Then swap your whisk for a spoon and start adding the flour. Add it bit by bit, make sure it's fully incorporated into the mix before adding the next bit. When that's done add the mountain of grated carrot.

Divide the mixture into 2 tins and bake at 160degC for 1 hour or until springy to touch.

Then take the out the oven and cool in the tin.

That's it! Now it's time to get creative, although I've kept the finish deliberately simple again.

Ingredients

275g Icing Sugar

250g Mascarpone

50g Butter

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 Orange, I didn't have one to hand so I used 2 citrus.

Slice the top off the bottom half of the cake to give an even flat surface to spread the filling on.

Mix together the butter and cheese until fluffy and fully combined.

Add the vanilla essence and stir it all until smooth. Now add the sugar, bit by bit from a sieve until all is fully combined. Finally zest your orange and stir that in.

Spread half the mixture on the bottom layer, place the other layer on top and spread the rest on that. Finally decorate with walnut halves.

I was really pleased with how this turned out.

And it was wonderfully moist and flavourful.

A feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.