Carrot Cake



I've had couple of requests for this one. It's very popular at coffee time at work and in Devon! It's straight from the Dairy Cookbook 1996 edition. The topping is delicious, soft cheese, icing sugar, double cream and vanilla and the cake is really moist. You'll need to line a loose bottomed 21cm (8") tin. To be really indulgent, you could make two and stack them with a layer of the topping in between. This recipe has no cinnamon but there is so much going on in there that you don't need it.

For an 8" cake

225g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
150g soft light brown sugar
50g chopped walnuts
50g raisins
100g grated carrots
2 ripe bananas peeled and mashed
2 eggs
150ml vegetable oil

For the topping

65ml fresh double cream
50g sifted icing sugar
75g full fat soft cheese (softened)
½ tsp vanilla essence
chopped walnuts to decorate

Cake
1. Sift together flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and add sugar.
2. Add nuts, carrots,raisins and bananas, stir.
3. Beat the eggs with the oil and pour onto the mix. Stir until well mixed.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake at 180°c gas mark 4 for 1½ hours until firm to the touch or when a skewer comes out clean.
5. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire tray.

Topping
1. Whip the double cream until softly stiff
2. Cream the icing sugar, cheese and vanilla together with a fork. Fold in the cream.
3. Spread over the top of the cake with a palette knife and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

The Photograph
I took this so long ago I can only guess at the lighting set up. It looks like two lights at 45° left and right. I think it was a softbox on the right and a diffused brolly on the left.