Big Bad Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

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.)