Big Bad Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Photography by Sarah Tuck.
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.)

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