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Photo Courtesy: Farzana Rahman
It was my very own dearest Farzana’s birthday and we both strongly believe that ‘Vegetables are a must on a diet I suggest: carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie’ . Wink Wink! I couldn’t have thought of anything other than a luxury carrot cake recipe packed with nuts, spices and golden sultanas, the lightest of all and the most enticingly moist cake, oh yes the mighty carrot cake, oh this carrot cake bursting with the freshness of the carrots, speckled by chopped pecans, and stunned by almond flakes, the crunch from the nuts and punch from the spices, with the perfect cream cheese frosting with the lemony twist, makes this incredibly moist and soft carrot cake so delightful. Don’t even contemplate on just a tiny slice of this cake because for sure you will be back for more, not mention only a few crumbs left to mark the carrot cake only after a few moments of the cake cutting ritual. The smiles, the expressions of being so gratified with this heavenly, divine and blissful cake, are to reminisce for the rest of our lives. The cherry on cake for this post is that the photos are taken by our very own pro food photography Farzana, which makes the whole process all the more special!
Photo Courtesy: Farzana Rahman
FROSTED CARROT CAKE
INGREDIENTS
175ml sunflower oil,
175 gms muscavodo sugar,
3 eggs beaten,
175 gms grated carrots,
85 gms sultnas,
55 gms walnut pieces,
Grated rind of 1 orange,
175 gms self-raising flour,
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda,
1 tsp ground cinnamon,
½ tsp grated nutmeg,
Nuts and candy carrots to decorate
FROSTING
200 gms full-fat soft cheese,
100 gms icing sugar,
2 tsp organge juice,
½ tsp vanilla essence
Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the base of a 8 inch square cake tin.
In a large bowl bet together the oil, muscavado sugar and eggs. Stir in the grated carrots, sultanas, walnuts an orange rind.
Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg, then stir evenly into the carrot mixture.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, until well-risen and firm to the touch.
Remove the cake from the oven and set on wire rack for five minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For the frosting, combine the soft cheese, icing sugar, orange juice and vanilla essence in a bowl and beat until smooth. Spread over the top of the cake and swirl with a palette knife to give a frosted look. Decorate with nuts and candy carrots.
