Carrot Cake

The carrot cake I made on Saturday was a hit. I just wish I had made two. The icing was my favorite bit – made from mascarpone and cream cheese. Yummy!

Ingredients
300g grated carrots
1 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup almond meal
1 cup crushed walnuts
280g butter
5 eggs (separated)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinammon
1 tbsp nutmeg
1 tbsp powdered ginger
juice & peel from one orange

Icing
200g mascarpone
200g cream cheese
50g icing sugar
crushed walnuts for decoration
a teaspoon of lemon juice or lime

Method
1. Prepare the cake tin with butter and baking paper.
2. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
3. Blend the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and creamy.
4. Add the egg yolks one by one and mix.
5. Add the flour and spices, blend well.
6. Add the almond meal, walnuts, orange peel and juice and blend until there’s a nice consistency.
7. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites.
8. Combine the fluffy egg whites with the cake mixture .
9. Pour the cake mixture into the tin.
10. Put in the heated oven and bake for 50 minutes.
11. Check that the cake has baked by inserting a tooth pick, if dry than take the cake out of the oven and let cool. If not, leave it in the oven for five to ten more minutes.
12. Remove cake from cake tin after letting it cool off for ten minutes.
13. Let it cool for a further hour before applying the icing.

Icing Method
1. Combine the mascarpone, cream cheese, sugar and lime/lemon juice.
2. Spread over the top of the cake.
3. Sprinkle on the crushed walnuts.
4. Serve to guests, or have it all to yourself. 🙂

Check out Jamie Oliver’s ‘Cook with Jamie’ for more info and delicious recipes. I changed some of the quantities when I was cooking, for example less sugar and more nuts. More mascarpone and less cream cheese. I could eat this icing all on its own.