This is a great cake for when friends are coming round and you just want something simple to make, but really tasty. The addition of the mixed spice transforms this cake into something sublime.
Ingredients:
150g baking margarine
150g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
200g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 tablespoon milk
2 large carrots
50g walnuts, chopped
15g pumpkin seeds
Frosting:
125g icing sugar
40g butter
1 tablespoon milk
Handful chopped walnuts
Whisk the margarine and the sugar together until they are fully blended. Then add the eggs, followed by the flour, baking powder and mixed spice. Whisk everything together for a minute to make sure there are no pockets of flour left.
Then add the milk and the grated carrot, followed by the walnuts and seeds.
Stir all the ingredients together, pour into a loaf tin which has been lined with baking paper and bake in the oven for 50 minutes at 180 degrees.
You can tell that the cake is ready because it will be nice and brown and firm to the touch.
Let the cake cool in the tin for a few minutes and then carefully remove the baking paper and let the cake cool on a wire cooling tray.
When the cake is cool, make the frosting by whisking the icing sugar, butter and milk together for around 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy. Only add extra milk if you absolutely have to, one drop at a time.
Spoon the frosting over the cake and decorate with chopped walnuts.
Most of the time, carrot cake is topped with a cream cheese frosting, but I have used a normal frosting with butter as it lasts longer and doesn’t need to be stored in the fridge. Also, you can freeze the cake, if you don’t manage to eat it all. Simply wrap it in foil.
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