Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Name: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup neutral oil, such as rice bran; 2 cups raw/dark or white sugar - definitely go dark sugar here, muscovado works well; 4 small eggs; 1 cup wholemeal flour; 1 cup plain / all-purpose flour; ¼ tsp salt; 2 tsp cinnamon; 1 tsp mixed spice (or sub 50/50 nutmeg and ground cloves); 1/2 tsp allspice - optional, gives it a little picante (use ground dried Juniper berries for a non-picant alternative, Chinese five-spice is another option); 1 tsp ground ginger - go double or more if you like ginger, I generally use 1 Tbsp; 3 cups grated carrot (about 3 medium carrots); 2 tsp baking soda; 1 tbsp orange (or apple) juice; 1 cup raisins - soaked in dark rum overnight for better effect!; 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts; 75g butter, at room temperature; 250g cream cheese (not the spreadable kind); finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon; 4 cups icing sugar; shredded zest of 1 orange; 70g butter, softened; 140g icing sugar; 1 tbsp milk - or, much better, a couple of shots of Gran Marnier.; ¼ tsp vanilla extract

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings: 10 servings

I'm not much of a sweet tooth, nor a cakey type person, but I make an exception for this! Dark, moist and spicy, this easy luxuriant recipe takes carrot cake to a whole new level.

It's always a favourite and the recipe I get asked for the most, so here it is in all its glory!

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Cakes & Muffins Dessert Fika

Ingredients

For the cake batter

1 cup neutral oil, such as rice bran
2 cups raw/dark or white sugar - definitely go dark sugar here, muscovado works well
4 small eggs
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup plain / all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice (or sub 50/50 nutmeg and ground cloves)
1/2 tsp allspice - optional, gives it a little picante (use ground dried Juniper berries for a non-picant alternative, Chinese five-spice is another option)
1 tsp ground ginger - go double or more if you like ginger, I generally use 1 Tbsp
3 cups grated carrot (about 3 medium carrots)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp orange (or apple) juice
1 cup raisins - soaked in dark rum overnight for better effect!
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

For the Cream Cheese Icing

75g butter, at room temperature
250g cream cheese (not the spreadable kind)
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 cups icing sugar
shredded zest of 1 orange

Butter Cream Icing Alternative

70g butter, softened
140g icing sugar
1 tbsp milk - or, much better, a couple of shots of Gran Marnier.
¼ tsp vanilla extract

Method

For the cake

Preheat oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan. Grease a 25cm-diameter loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Better yet, use a 25cm silicon cake tin and avoid the faff.
Place oil, sugar, salt, cinnamon, mixed spice, allspice, ginger and eggs in the bowl of a food processor and whizz to combine, making sure the sugar is mostly dissolved.
To a decent sized mixing bowl, add the flour, raisins, walnuts and grated carrot and mix gently with hands to make an even melange don't do this in the food processor, it'll ruin the texture. Make a well in the centre and pour in the batter from the food processor. Dissolve the baking soda in the orange juice, add to the mix and fold everything in with a wooden spoon – don’t over-mix.
Pour into prepared tin and bake until the top bounces back when pressed and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (55–60 minutes).
Allow to cool before icing.
If you're using the siliconware, once cool, place one hand underneath with a plate firmly on top. Flip upside down so the cake pops out, then repeat with a second plate to put it the right way up.
This cake is best the day after when all the flavours have infused properly if you can wait that long.

Cream Cheese Icing

To make the cream cheese icing, place softened butter, cream cheese, lemon zest and juice and icing sugar in a food processor. Blend until smooth then spread over top and sides of cake. Garnish with orange zest.

A Note About the Icing
The cream cheese icing, while delicious, is pretty heavy on the fat and calories. I know nobody expects carrot cake to be health food, but here's an alternative that also does a fine job. It uses roughly a quarter of the sugar and has less than a quarter of the fat.

Butter Cream Icing Alternative

The quick way: chop up the butter (can be straight from the fridge), throw everything into a small electric food whisk and blitz. Chop chop. Ready in seconds. By hand, the butter will need to be soft, at room temperature. Cut into small cubes when taking from the fridge to make your life easier, beat with a fork until smooth.
It can seem a bit runny, but spread it over the top and let it soak in overnight. Maybe it's because I get generous with the Gran Marnier ... Add a bit of icing sugar if you need it thicker.