Carrot cake is a crowdpleaser and one every keen baker should have in their arsenal. This is our best ever recipe, packed with warming spices, crunchy nuts and a luxurious mascarpone and brown butter frosting. Finished with a simple but flavour-bursting decoration of fresh citrus zests, this is a bake you’ll want to whip up time and again. Read food producer Pollyanna’s deep-dive into what makes it work so well.
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Ingredients
- 1 orange
- 100g sultanas
- 50g shelled walnuts
- 50g shelled pecans
- 125ml sunflower oil
- 2 medium free-range eggs
- 300g light muscovado sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 300g carrots, scrubbed
- 200g plain flour
- 60g wholemeal flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 120g soured cream
For the frosting
- 120g unsalted butter
- 300g icing sugar
- 150g mascarpone
- 50g soured cream
- ¼ fresh nutmeg, finely grated
- ½ pink grapefruit
- 1 lime
- 1 orange
Specialist kit
- 2 x 20cm loose-bottomed cake tins
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Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6. Finely zest the orange into a small bowl. Put the sultanas in another small bowl and squeeze the juice of the orange over them. Put the walnuts and pecans in a small baking dish and toast in the oven for 10 minutes, turning halfway through. Leave to cool, then finely chop.
- Put the butter for the frosting in a pan over a medium heat and cook until sizzling, golden and toasty. This should take around 8 minutes; the white milk solids should become amber and sink to the bottom. Keep an eye on it; if it burns it will taste bitter and you’ll have to start again. Leave to cool and firm up completely (see Make Ahead).
- Heat the oven to 160ºC fan/gas 4 and line both cake tins with baking paper. Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, whisk together the oil, eggs, muscovado sugar and vanilla for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, finely grate the carrots (no need to peel), then gently stir them into the whisked egg mixture along with the soaked sultanas and any leftover orange juice. Sift the dry ingredients and spices into the bowl and gently stir to combine, then stir in the soured cream, reserved orange zest and chopped toasted nuts.
- Divide the mixture equally between the cake tins and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Carefully remove the cakes from the tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
- While the cakes cool, make the frosting. Put the cooled brown butter in a stand mixer with a beater attachment and whip on a low-medium speed. Sift in the icing sugar, a third at a time, until completely combined, then beat in the mascarpone, followed by the soured cream and grated nutmeg.
- Once the cakes have completely cooled, use a serrated knife to slice off the raised dome of one of the cakes to get a flat surface. Spread half the frosting neatly over the newly flattened surface, then carefully place the second cake on top and add the rest of the frosting to the top. To finish, finely zest the half grapefruit, lime and orange over the icing to add a wonderfully fresh and colourful styling to the cake.
Nutrition
- 752kcals Calories
- 41g (15g saturated) Fat
- 6.9g Protein
- 88g (69g sugars) Carbs
- 3.4g Fibre
- 0.7g Salt
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