Carrot Cake

Hello everyone, long time no see....

I've now entered the world of full time work and my time for baking and blogging has sadly decreased. However I made a new years resolution to get back into it and decided to get cracking.

I made this delightful cake over the festive period based on a recipe by Jane's Patisserie!

I personally think Carrot Cake is great for any season and as the end of the longest month ever and payday (Hallelujah!) rolls around why not get baking!

Ingredients 

Cake

– 225ml Sunflower Oil
– 4 Large Eggs
– 275g Light Brown Sugar
– 300g Grated Carrots
– 100g Raisins (Optional) -  I personally don't use these as I have a decided hatred for raisins.
– Zest of 1 Orange
– 275g Self Raising Flour
– 1 & 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
– 2 tsp Mixed Spice
– 1 tsp Ground Ginger
– 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
– 100g Walnuts/Pecans Chopped (Optional)

Buttercream/Decoration

 250g Butter, room temperature
– 500g Icing Sugar
– 1tsp Vanilla Extract
– Chopped Nuts

Method 

1)  Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and Grease 8″ Cake tins.

2) Pour the Sunflower Oil & Eggs into a large bowl and add the sugar – mix lightly and combine. Add the Grated Carrots & Raisins if using, and Orange Zest and fold through to combine.

3) Add the Flour, Bicarbonate, Mixed Spice, Ginger, & Cinnamon and mix again – try not to over mix! Once combined, fold through the Nuts and pour into the prepared tins!

4) Bake the Cakes in the Oven for 30-35 minutes until cooked through (test with a cake tester, should be clean!) and leave to cool in the tin.

5) Once cooled, make the buttercream – Beat the butter together with icing sugar adding it gradually. I sometimes add a bit of milk to help them combine, only a tiny bit however otherwise the icing will be too soft. Once you have a lovely buttercream consistency add the vanilla extract!

6) Place one of your sponges onto the plate you’re using, spread half of the buttercream on top, add the other sponge, and spread the rest of the buttercream on.

Enjoy and Happy Baking!