Belle's Best-est Carrot Cake

by rosypea

Often, when I find recipies for home made carrot cake I find myself dissapointed with the use of oil not butter. I find oil often gives the cake a very fried greasy sort of taste down to the oil emulsifying, which I cannot stand at all so I did some work with recipes online and after trial and error over the weekend I came up with this moist, fluffy and flavour packed cake, with hints of citrus. This should come with a warning, it is impossible to resist.

It does require quite a bit of prep, but is totally worth it, and if you get organized then it’s not much trouble at all.

Servings; This cake is very versatile and will make about 12-16 large cupcakes,a tray bake, (or as these pictures show) a layer cake of anything up-to roughly 20cm in diameter.

Ingredients:
90g Soft Brown Sugar
120g Caster Sugar
115g Butter (or I find Stork margarine works best for cakes)
2 Medium eggs
One medium sized Lemon
One small-medium sized Orange
1tsp Vanilla essence
300(ish) g Carrots (It doesn’t matter about exact amounts when it comes to the carrot, I normally use about 5 medium sized carrots)
100-150g Yummy juicy raisins (optional – you might like to add walnuts or anything else that takes your fancy but I really recommend juicy raisins)
210g Plain all purpose flour
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1.5 tsb baking powder
2 heaped teaspoons cinnamon

(Frosting Recipe Below).

Step-By-Step.

1) Get everything ready and out to make cleaning up easier, it’s good to have a tray on hand to put any sticky utensils down on. Preheat the oven to 180(C)

Zesting the lemon

2) Zesting the orange... well I'd run out of oranges so this is a Clementine but it doesn't matter too much.
Zest both the lemon and orange and set aside.

3) Squeeze the juices from the lemon and orange into a cup, add the tsp of vanilla and set aside.

4) Chop the ends off of your carrots and grate them on the large holed part of your grater, you could peel them if you like but as long as they've had a good wash I don't think it's necessary. You will find that it is alot of carrot, and don't be put off by this at all. Put in a bowl and set aside

5) weigh out your raisins or added ingredients and pop them in the bowl with the grated carrot for them to make friends.

6) If you are using tins line or grease them as you wish (lining them makes it easier to release once they've cooked) if you are using cupcake/muffin trays put the cases in and set aside. Now's the time to double check your oven is on to preheat at 180C, there's nothing worse than forgetting!

Weigh out your butter and sugars(Yes, my scales are a teeny bit outdated...)

7)In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars on a medium to high setting or if you're creaming by hand using lots of arm power until it is well mixed and fluffy (this should take 3-5 minutes)

8) Add the zest's you so lovingly grated earlier and mix them evenly throughout the batter

10) Weigh out the flours and add in the cinnamon, baking powder and bicarb in your scales.

11) Sift half of the flour mixture into the batter and mix it slowly in, then tip in the juices you reserved earlier and mix that through - once again don't worry if it's a little runny that's completely okay! Sift in the remaining flour once the juice is mixed and beat thoroughly.

12) Plonk the carrots and raisins into the mixture

13)Stir the carrots and raisins through the mixture until they are thoroughly dispersed.

14) Pop the mixture into your tins of choice and smooth it down (these can be muffins, fairy cakes whatever your choosing). Place them in the centre of the oven with the timer for 15 minutes if you're making muffins and 20 for a larger cake. After 15 minutes for large cakes keep checking every 10 minutes until they are golden, and bounce back when touched.

15) When the cakes are out leave them to cool for 10 minutes in their tray then turn them out on to cooling trays to cool completely

The Frosting for these is a citrus cream cheese one, which beautifully cuts through the cakes, and is deliciously creamy.
Ingredients;
500g icing sugar sifted
175g cream cheese (Philadelphia is what I use)
125g Butter or Stork softened.
Juice of either 1/2 an orange or lemon

1)  In a large bowl place the icing sugar, cream cheese and butter.
2) Stir by hand the mix until it begins to form blobs of  mixture (like big crumbs)
3) (If you have a deep sink it can be an advantage to pop the bowl into it to stop the sugar flying everywhere) Squeeze in the juice and proceed with the electric mixer until it’s creamy, fluffy but thick enough to spread.

Icing The Cake.

1) Spread the cream over the top of one of the cakes (on a plate) when it is completely cooled, generously,  making sure it’s even. Pop the other cake on over the top and very gently push it down.

2) Cover the top and sides of the cake if you wish with however much frosting you personally like using a pallete knife, the flat side of a normal knife a piping bag or even the back of a spoon, as it’s your cake after all. This can be a messy job but try not to get too worried about it.

3) Decorate with sprinkles of zest or cinnamon or some cute little wafer daisies.

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