One mum said that the icing on this cake was so yummy you could almost eat it on its own out of a tub! Give it a try and let us know what you think.
WARNING: This cake contains nuts, it is therefore not suitable for babies.
Ingredients
- 125g self-raising flour
- 125g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (about)
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 250ml vegetable oil
- 185g dark soft brown sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 175g golden syrup
- 450g carrot (peeled and grated – that is the bit that takes time. Maybe you could buy it pre-grated?)
- 60g chopped walnuts
For the icing:
- 175g cream cheese
- 60g unsalted butter
- 200g icing sugar (and maybe a bit more)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla flavouring (natural extract)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (from a bottle – don’t be messing about with a lemon)
Method
- Sift flours, spices, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a bowl (the sifting is important, don’t just plonk it in).
- Measure out the oil in a measuring jug, add the eggs and the golden syrup and whisk together with electric beaters.
- Turn the oven on to heat up at 160C.
- Fold whisked ingredients into the flours with a metal spoon (taking care to fold in lots of air). Then carefully fold in the carrot and nuts.
- Pour into a 23cm round cake tin lined with grease proof paper (just get one big piece – don’t mess about cutting out a circle and then doing the sides separately).
- Bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean from the middle of the cake.
- For the icing, put butter and cream cheese in a bowl and microwave on half power for about 30 seconds – or just enough to soften it up. Beat together with electric whisk until smooth. If it isn’t going smooth, give it another wiz in the microwave. Add icing sugar, lemon and vanilla. Whisk some more. Then add a bit more icing sugar if it is too runny. Spread over the cake when it has cooled.
- You can decorate the cake with some freshly ground nutmeg for that real ’super-mum’ look.
Do you have any recipes you could share with other mums? Let us know and we will add them.
