Carrot Cake – Recipes

200g carrots, peeled and finely grated

175g dark soft brown sugar

2 large eggs

150ml olive oil (not virgin olive oil)

200g wholemeal self-raising flour

1 tbsp ground mixed spice

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

80g pecans, roughly chopped

grated zest of 1 lemon

110g sultanas

25g raisins

50g desiccated coconut

250g mascarpone

250ml double cream

2 tbsp icing sugar

300g baby carrots (washed)

1 tsp salt

70g sugar

50g butter

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas mark 5. Lightly grease a 25cm, 6cm deep cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.
To make the cake, whisk the sugar, eggs and oil together in a bowl with an electric hand whisk for 3-4 minutes until smooth. Now sift the flour, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl, tipping in any bits left in the sieve. Stir together gently, then add the remaining cake ingredients.
Pour the cake mixture evenly into the tin and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes. it should be nicely risen and feel firm and springy to the touch when lightly pressed in the centre. If not, give it another few minutes and test again. Remove the cake from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
Make the icing by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge until you are ready to ice the cake.
To make the glazed carrots, trim the green carrot stalks to 2.5cm in length. Place the carrots in a saucepan and just cover with cold water. Add the salt, sugar and butter bring to the boil and boil quickly for 5-6 minutes. The carrots will cook as the water evaporates and a glaze is formed in the bottom of the pan. Coat in the glaze, remove from the pan and leave to cool.
To decorate, spread the icing roughly over the top of the cake. Garnish with the sugared carrots and lengths of pulled sugar.