Simple, Wholesome Carrot Cake

The ideal vehicle for cream cheese icing

There is nothing like a good carrot cake to escort a helping of cream cheese icing to your mouth. Let’s be real, the icing is the main reason that carrot cake has held its popularity for so long.

That said, this is a particularly nice version in my opinion. It is unfussy and not too sweet. Made with olive oil and whole-wheat flour to add a nice base depth of flavour, minimal spices and the nuts are optional (I forgot to add mine this week and I didn’t miss them for a second).

If you are going to add nuts, walnuts and pecans always benefit from a quick refresh in the oven. 5 minutes in a moderate oven will perk them up nicely.

As for the main event, the cream cheese icing, the most important thing to remember is to soften both the butter and the cream cheese very well before you begin. Get them out of the fridge at least and hour or two before making the icing to avoid hard fatty lumps in your final product. And sift the icing sugar- very important here!

To make this mixture into cupcakes, reduce the cooking time to about 25 minutes, start checking doneness after 18 minutes.

Carrot cake

1 lb (450g) carrots ( 5 or 6medium carrots), finely grated

1 c sugar

4 eggs

1 c olive oil

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c ap flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 slightly heaped tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda (bi-carb soda)

1/2 tsp salt

1 c peacan or walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)

Cream cheese icing

1 stick butter (125g)

8oz cream cheese (250g)

3/4 c powdered sugar (icing sugar)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake:

• preheat the oven to 350F/180C (330/160 convection/fan forced). Grease and line a 10 inch/25cm cake tin.

• In an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar under triples in volume, about 10 minutes.

• In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, except the nuts, and whisk together well. Set aside.

• Finely grate the carrots. (It will still work if you use the coarse side of the grater but the texture won’t be as good.)

• Turn down the speed on the mixer and slowly add the oil until just combined. Turn off the mixer and then fold through the carrot, followed by the flour. Before the flour has been completely incorporated, add the nuts and mix until everything is just incorporated.

• Spoon into the cake pan and bake 40-50 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center removes clean.

• Cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so before turning out onto a plate to cool.

Icing:

• Soften your butter and cream cheese well before making.

• In an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add vanilla extract and sifted powdered sugar and beat for a few minutes until smooth. I prefer my cream cheese icing quite dense, but if you want it to be more aerated, you can beat it for longer at this stage.

• Wait for the cake to cool completely before icing the cake.