Carrot Cake

Ingredients

• For the carrot cake sponge:
• 250ml vegetable oil
• 175g caster sugar
• 50g light brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 140g carrots (2)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• A pinch of salt
• For the cream cheese frosting:
• 300g cream cheese
• 100g soft butter
• 125g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• The juice of ½ a lemon

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 8-10

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°c.
2. Place the sugars, eggs, oil and vanilla into a bowl. Whisk them together so there are no lumps of sugar and it turns creamy.
3. Sieve the flour, salt, baking powder and spices into another bowl and using a dry whisk, mix them together.
4. Peel the carrots and then grate them.
5. Pour the egg, oil and sugar mixture into the dry ingredients and then mix them together so there are no lumps. Then stir in the carrot.
6. Grease and line two 20cm sandwich cake tins with greaseproof paper. Pour the cake batter evenly into both the tins.
7. Put the tins into the middle part of the oven and bake them for 30 minutes so they feel firm when touched on top and do not wobble in the middle.
8. Remove the cakes from the tins and cool them on a wire rack until they have reached room temperature.
9. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and add all the other icing ingredients.
10. Using a hand whisk or spoon beat the mixture until it is thick, light and creamy with no lumps remaining.
11. On your serving platter or cake stand or plate, place the first layer of cake. Spoon on about a third of the cream cheese frosting and spread it evenly over the top.
12. Put the second layer of carrot cake on top and spread a further third of the icing (half of what’s left) over the top.
13. Using a pallet knife or butter knife, frost the sides of the cake with the remaining icing and either smooth it down or texture the surface as we did.
14. Serve.

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Useful Information

Can it be frozen? Yes, up to 1 month.
Can it be prepared in advance? Yes, it can be finished up to 3 days in advance.
Will leftovers be nice? Yes, for up to 1 week.

Notes