Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I had been wanting to find a new receipe for a carrot cake that I could master and have with me ongoing and I was delighted to realised I had achieved that with this winning combination. I feel that carrot cakes can be a bit hit and miss and over the years with the ones I have tried I have been happy enough but never consistently so. Either the cake was too dry or didn’t have any walnuts or had pineapple or was too store made tasting so I kept searching. I have used receipes from many different websites and tried packet mixes when time didn’t permit and this one is a modified version of one I came across on the back of the cream cheese block from Aldi (favourite shop of all time!)

The cake is delicious, definitely not dry, has enough carrot and walnuts to satisfy any critic and no pineapple! (Although I think the receipe did suggest to add it, however, I wisely chose not to). I whipped this up in a few hrs on Wednesday night just gone post yoga, but there are minor changes that could be made with more time (eg putting the cake in the fridge after adding the frosting to the centre of the 2 cakes to have it set a little before frosting the rest of the cake). However, those things are much of a muchness so if you were super pressed for time, it is still achievable in a short period. I had bought a new turntable recently from the cake store at Darra and this enabled me to try it out but spinning it around when I was icing the cake, albeit at a slower pace when the cake was on top as opposed to cakeless as a colleague and I giggled about this week!

I was surprised at 1^st when I read this recipe as it has a lot of sugar and I was skeptical as it is caster sugar not brown sugar which I knew had traditionally been used in carrot cakes, however, my mind was made up when I tried the cake and didn’t experience an overly sugary mouth full nor did I think brown sugar would have tasted better in the end!

So I made this for work and we had it for morning tea and I think the general consensus was that it tasted delicious so I am a happy cook!!

Serves 8-10
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 55 minutes
Decorating time: 15 minutes

Carrot cake ingredients (x2 for 2 cakes)

200 grams plain flour
295 grams caster sugar
1 ¼ tsp bicarb soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
½ packet walnuts, coarsely chopped
167ml vegetable oil
2 eggs, free range
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium sized carrots, grated

Cake method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and 2 x 8 inch cake tins with butter and baking paper
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, bicarb, cinnamon and vanilla, stir to combine
In a glass measuring cup add oil and eggs and prick with a fork and combine
Pour liquid mix into dry mix and use hand held beaters to mix
Add carrot and walnuts and stir till thoroughly combined
Cook for 55 mins until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean
Toast coconut chips towards end of cooking time for 10 mins unless lightly browned

For the frosting I modified a version I found on www.bestreceipes.com.au as I knew with the 2 cakes and filling, I would need more frosting than my normal go to 60 gram standard receipe.

Cream cheese frosting ingredients

600g icing sugar, sifted
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250 gram block of cream cheese
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Cream cheese frosting method

Beat the butter and icing sugar with a handheld beater
Add cream cheese, lemon juice and vanilla essence and mix in well till frosting is light and fluffy

Decorating method

Cut the top ‘round’ part off both cakes and discard
Place one cake on a cake board and top with 1 cm frosting across the top
Turn 2^nd cake upside down and place on top (put in fridge for 30 mins if time permits)
Use a flat spatula to spread remaining cream cheese on top of cakes and down all sides
Top with toasted coconut chips