Aimalohi: Carrot Cake

It has to be said that my crafting has taken much of a back seat of late and I am not sure when I will be able to do much again. So right not, it is a struggle writing posts. But thank you all for looking at my blog and still making comments; it is lovely hearing from you. And apologies ladies that I have not visited your blogs lately to drool over your new creations. I promise, I will.

The one thing I did do a couple of weeks ago (frightening to think that my last post was even well before then) was bake a carrot cake for a friends birthday. I must confess, that I love baking. So I was very pleased that I had a good reason to bake something; and this time, I went all the way (ie, with frosting as well, which I never do). I found this recipe in the Australian Women’s Weekly – Cafe Cakes book (which I borrowed from a friend). This is a very easy recipe to follow and the end product is scrumptiously yummy (even if I say so my self) – the poor quality of my photo does not do the cake justice. So here is the recipe:

250 mL vegetable oil

3 eggs

250g sugar

375g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

720g coarsely grate carrot

120g chopped walnuts

2 teaspoon mixed spice

Mix the oil, sugar and eggs until creamy. Add carrots and mix well. Add dry (sifted) ingredients. Transfer to a 30 cm greased baking pan. Bake in a preheated oven (190 degrees C or 375 degrees F) for 1 hr 15 mins. Half way through baking time, cover the tin with foil (so the cake does not go too dark). Check that the cake is well cooked using a dry knife before removing from the oven; note that since this is a moist cake, chances are the knife does not come out clean. Remove from oven and cool for 5 mins. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to completely cool.

For the frosting, mix 30g butter and 80g cream cheese (eg, Philadelphia) together and gradually add icing sugar (240g) and 1 teaspoon lemon ring (finely grated). Smear evenly on the and decorate with carrot-marzipan.