No. 7 Carrot Cake

Added by Ruth (my wife)

When I set out to make this Peter thought it would have a soggy bottom, however, this is a tried and tested recipe from a good friend and I proved him wrong.  As Autumn has well and trully come upon us, with the changing of the leaves, a carrot cake seems seasonal to Autumn, and when decorated with seeds and nuts suits this season well.

This can be made as a tray bake style cake (in a large rectangular tin), or baked into a cake by using 2 circular cake tins.  Although I followed the recipe below, I would recommend making double the frosting for a good cake to frosting ratio.

Time: One and a half hours

For Cake

1 and quarter cups of vegetable oil

2 cups of caster sugar

3 eggs

2 cups of plain flour

2 tablespoons of baking soda

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 tin of crushed pineapple (227g) – drain a good amount of the liquid before adding

1 cup of chopped nuts e.g. walnuts or pecans

2 cups of shredded carrot

For Frosting

2 ounces of non salted butter (room temperture)

4 ounces of icing sugar

3 ounces of cream cheese

dash of vanilla extract

• Beat butter and icing sugar together
• Add cream cheese and vanilla until well mixed

For Decoration

Assorted seeds and nuts

1. Beat oil, sugar and eggs together.
2. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and vanilla and mix.
3. Finally add pineapple, nuts and shredded carrot.
4. Transfer into tin(s) and bake in oven for 50-60 mins – until skewer comes out showing the cake is cooked (note: this is a moist cake so skewer may not be perfectly clean!)
5. Make te frosting by beating butter and icing sugar together. Then add the cream cheese and vanilla and mix till well combined.
6. Allow cake to cool before decorating with frosting, seeds and nuts.  If making it cake style remember to use half your frosting to sandwich the layers together.