Big Bad Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

From issue #0. September, 2015
Photography by Sarah Tuck.
Big Bad Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Sarah Tuck shares the recipe for one of her favourite treats: a carrot cake with a citrusy twist.

INGREDIENTS

Cake
2 ½ cups plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
⅔ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
4 eggs
1¼ cups rice bran or other neutral vegetable oil
finely grated zest 1 orange
227g tin crushed pineapple, drained in a sieve
⅔ cup roughly chopped walnuts (optional)
26cm cake tin, base and sides lined with baking paper

Icing
25 grams butter, room temperature
250 grams cream cheese, room temperature
finely grated zest 1 orange
3 cups icing sugar

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160˚C (325˚F). 

Sift all the dry ingredients together into a large bowl and stir to combine.  

Put the carrots, eggs, oil and zest in a food processor and pulse quickly to combine. Fold into the dry ingredients, along with the pineapple and walnuts. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 65-70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Turn the oven off but leave the cake in for 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and ice once cooled. 

Icing: Mix all the ingredients in a food processor until well combined. (It makes a lot, so freeze any leftovers.)