Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

For a real crowd favourite try Curtis Stone’s sensational carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

INGREDIENTS

CAKE

• 300g carrots, peeled and grated on a box grater
• 250g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 2 free range eggs
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

ICING

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 100g cream cheese, softened
• 45g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zest, finely grated

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METHOD

• Step 1
  Preheat oven to 180⁰C and line a 24x12cm loaf tin with baking paper.

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• Step 2
  Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and whisk to blend.

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• Step 3
  Mix cinnamon, salt, flour and baking powder in a separate large mixing bowl, then sift the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and mix to blend.

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• Step 4
  Add the carrots and walnuts and mix until just combined.

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• Step 5
  Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

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• Step 6
  Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

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• Step 7
  While the cake is cooling, place all ingredients for the icing into a food processor or a medium mixing bowl and mix well until the icing is creamy, reserve.

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• Step 8
  Once the carrot cake has cooled completely, carefully remove from the loaf tin and peel away the baking paper.

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• Step 9
  Spread the icing generously over the top of the carrot cake, slice and serve.

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