The best carrot cake

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Grease the sandwich tins with butter and line with baking paper. Put the eggs, oil, sugar and honey in a bowl and whisk with an electric hand whisk for 4-5 minutes until the mixture becomes creamy.
2. Sift together the cinnamon, flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, then fold gradually into the mixture. Gently fold in the rum, pine nuts, carrot and courgette.
3. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the centre of the sponges comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. For the icing, beat the cream cheese and cream until smooth, then beat in the lime zest and juice and the icing sugar until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add more icing sugar to taste, if necessary.
5. Make the sugared petals by brushing the petals with egg white and dusting with caster sugar (see video in tips). Set aside until hardened.
6. To assemble, place one of the sponges top-down on a plate and spread the surface generously with one-third of the icing.
7. Top with the other cake and cover the top with the remaining icing. Sprinkle with pine nuts, lime zest and the sugared petals before serving.