This glorious carrot cake recipe is laced with flavours of the traditional Simnel cake, offering a great alternative of pound cake idea. The cake is smothered in a rich almond cream cheese frosting for a wonderfully decadent finish.
Ingredients
Cake
50g of sultanas/raisins
1/2 orange, zested and juiced
150g of self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 pinch of ground cloves
1 pinch of ground nutmeg
50g of ground almonds
50g of walnut halves, roughly chopped
120ml of sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
135g of soft brown sugar, light
2 large eggs
225g of carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
Frosting
200g of mascarpone
2 tbsp of icing sugar, sifted
1/2 orange, zested
almond extract, a few drops
2 tbsp of flaked almonds, toasted
Method
1. In a small bowl, combine the sultanas, orange juice and zest and leave to steep for 1 hour
2. Preheat the oven 180°C/gas mark 4. Grease a 1kg loaf tin with sunflower oil and line the base and sides with baking parchment
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices into a medium bowl. Stir in the ground almonds and walnuts
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar and eggs until pale and thick
5. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, followed by carrots and soaked sultanas
6. Scrape the mixture into your prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hour or until golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean
7. Remove from the oven, run a knife around the edge of the cake then leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
8. To make the icing, beat together the mascarpone, icing sugar and orange zest. Spread over the top of your cooled cake then sprinkle over the flaked almonds
Cut according to the desired portions and serve
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