Extra Spicy Carrot and Walnut Birthday Cake

I am all birthday-d out. One sister. One brother in law (to be). Two days. Two birthdays. Too much cake.

For my sister, Monday marked the half-way line to 50. Least impressed was she on the age front that *hopefully* the present and cake front was a little more uplifting. To add to the Sunday-Monday celebrations, on Tuesday we met in London and rummaged through Soho to find the Tate & Lyle Edible Tasting House  followed by  a fat helping of Lobster in bread from the bustling Burger & Lobster - but more on that later…

For brother in law to be it had to be a homemade carrot cake – for two reasons. One; he expressed his love for such cake a week beforehand after enjoying a slice or two of M&S carrot cake and two; after tons of research and a whole blog post later I wanted to face my pathetic fear of cream cheese icing. We all came out of it with a pleasantly surprised BIL and icing successes.  2  peas in 1 delicious pod.

My recipe for cream cheese icing is a winner and I truly urge everyone to give it a go if they have ever come across this kind of gloop before.

This cake is overly nutty, spicy and indulgently rich and the walnuts go a bit soft on the outside when baked in cake, as if they’re fooling you into thinking: “That walnut might be a raisin, how shit would it be if it actually was.” Aaaaand then you are welcomed with the relief of a satisfying crunch.

The thing with CC is that it is such a simple recipe and a tea time favourite that as a baker/person you will find yourself baking it at some point. I’ve made it so many times now (here, and here) that I knew increasing the spice load would make a positively huge difference, an adaptation that I am going to stick to for the rest of my life – or at least until I hit the half-way line to 50.

The Recipe:

For the cake:

I dont know.

300ml sunflower oil or melted butter 

300g finely grated carrots 

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

300g plain/all purpose flour

180g dark brown, soft sugar

120g caster sugar, white

120g chopped walnuts

3 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk 

1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp nutmeg 

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 tsp ground ginger 

3 1/2 tsp good quality ground cinnamon
For the icing:
850g icing sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
300g full fat cream cheese
1 tsp lemon juice
For the sides:
180g chopped walnuts

Special Equipment
Deep 23cm/8 inch round baking tin 

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and grease baking tin.

Grate the carrots, chop the walnuts and set aside.

In a freestanding mixer, beat the oil/melted butter and both types of sugar on high speed until pale - about 3 minutes.

In the mean time add the dry ingredients, including the spices, into a medium bowl and stir with a spoon - set aside.

Add the eggs & egg yolk one at a time into the oil mixture and beat for a further 4 minutes until fluffy and pale/r.

On low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 parts until just incorporated.

Take a metal spoon and fold in vanilla extract, then the carrots and lastly the walnuts.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean - maximum baking time is an hour.

Rest the cake as it is for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Whilst the cake is cooling, make the icing. 

In a freestanding mixer, throw in all of the ingredients except lemon juice and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Next, add the lemon juice and mixe on a higher speed until thick and smooth. Add more lemon juice to taste.

Once the cake is cooled, cut the cake straight through the middle and level the top. Add 4 heaped tbsp of icing in the middle and smooth with a spatula. Use the same spatula to cover the sides and top, do not worry about making the sides look neat if you are covering them in walnuts.

Walnut wall

Do you have a favourite carrot cake recipe?
Love Em xx

Miette Carrot Cupcakes

So here's my second Miette post! Miette Carrot Cupcakes! Carrot cupcakes were my second venture because the recipe included coconut, which interested me and I was eager to taste this concoction! The sponge was literally something else. You had the coconut complimenting the cinnamon, all whilst the corn oil was keeping everything incredibly moist. Fireworks. No ginger, no cloves, just cinnamon - trust me it works! These are being sold on Drysdale Street in NSP Cafe (off Old Street) this week, which is why I wasn't unable to dissect the cupcake so I could show you the inside! Hope you enjoy :)

The Recipe:

1 cup all purpose flour/self raising/cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon 

Half tsp salt

Three quarter cup corn oil

2 large eggs 

1 cup carrots

Half cup walnuts

Half cup desiccated coconut 

1 cup currents (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pound cream cheese

Half cup unsalted butter 

1 cup icing sugar

The Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a muffin tray with 12 cupcake cases. 
• Sift flour, salt, baking powder/soda and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside. 
• In another bowl (or a freestanding mixer) whisk together the eggs and sugar for 2 minutes. 
• Gradually pour in the oil and whisk on high speed for one minute until the mixture emulsifies. 
• Now add the dry ingredients in one third at a time until smooth. 
• Add the coconut, carrots, walnuts and currents (if you used them) and fold in till well incorporated. 
• Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter into the cupcake cases until each one is two thirds full.
• Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
• For the frosting, sieve the icing sugar in a large bowl and set aside. 
• In a freestanding mixer, cream butter and icing sugar smooth. then gradually add cream cheese, till you have a smooth frosting.
• Ice as you please!

Mbakes x

3 layer carrot cake

This must be my 4^th post in the last week…Easter holidays, or any other holiday for that matter always turns me into a bum. Whilst I should be actively searching for work experience and/or work, I spend my days (and student loan) baking things like this tangy carrot cake and then eating one slice and throwing it in the bin (I have the only sweet tooth in my family, either that or I’m in denial about how inept my baking is). Also my boyfriend is in Florida for 10 days so you can only imagine how many more blog posts will arrive this coming weekend!

So this cake…I mixed things up a lot with the recipe, I literally used half the Primrose Bakery recipe and half the Hummingbird recipe. For example I used corn oil from Primrose but plain flour from Hummingbird. The original (first half) recipe called for pecans, I used walnuts because pecans have a maple-like soft sugary taste which I felt wouldn’t go well with 420g of sugar, so walnuts it was! I also got rid of a few things like salt and grated ginger. Enjoy!uHhsssssdds

The Recipe:
350ml corn oil
420g golden caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
450g grated carrots
70g chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
Half tsp cloves
500g plain flour
3 large eggs
80ml buttermilk
Cream Cheese Topping:
100g unsalted butter
600g icing sugar
1 tsp orange zest
250g cream cheese

The Method:

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and line 3 sandwich tins with oil and baking parchment. 
• In a large bowl mix together eggs, sugar, carrots, vanilla, buttermilk and oil for about 1 minute till well combined. 
• In a seperate bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients. 
• Then, one third at a times gradually add the dry mixture to the wet using a wooden spoon. 
• Mix till just incorporated then add the walnuts.
• Divide the batter into the 3 tins and place in the preheated oven for half an hour or until the toothpick comes out clean. 
• Once the cakes are out, set aside to cool and begin to make the frosting. 
• Cream the butter with the sieved icing sugar and then gradually add the cream cheese frosting and zest. 
• Decorate as you please!

Sugarflair Holly Green Leaf

Mbakes x