Carrot Cake

Carroty and Cakey

I've been making carrot cake with the same recipe for a few years. It's a tried and tested one that I've tweaked in to tastiness along the way, but, alas! I forgot to bring the recipe with me to Berlin, so I have had to try and remember what it was. It could have all gone horribly wrong, but I think that it went pretty well-considering I haven't made this for over a year and I did it from memory. This recipe will do for now but could be replaced with an improved one. I couldn't find any soft dark brown sugar in the shop, so that was a bit of a shame. It's carrot, it's cake, it's got cream cheese icing- what's going to be bad about that?

Ingredients:
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g brown sugar
100g sultanas
2 very ripe, blackened bananas- mashed
250g carrots, grated
130ml sunflower oil
3 medium eggs
1 lemon, zested 
1 tsp cinammon
2 tsp grated ginger


200g cream cheese at room temp
2 tblsp very soft butter
85g icing sugar


Method:
-preheat the oven to 180C and line the bas of a 20cm/8" spring form tin with baking paper.
-sift all the dry ingredients in to a large bowl. Add the sultanas and carrot and mix. Add the banana mush and mix. 
-beat the eggs in to the oil, pour in and combine thoroughly. Add half the zest and a little squeeze of lemon juice, if you fancy.
-pour the batter in to the tin and bake for around 1 1/4 hours, checking after one. If a knife doesn't come out clean, stick it back in for 10 mins.
-leave it in the tin for a bit, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

sliced and ready for cream cheese

-meanwhile! Make the icing. Squish the butter around in a bowl with the back of a spoon then add in a few tablespoons of the cheese. Mix them together, then add in the rest of the cheese. Sift in the icing sugar and stir gently (lest you should be surrounded in a cloud of sugar!). Add the rest of the zest, cover and chill.
-Either slice the cake in half and sandwich half the icing in the middle and the other half on the top, or just spoon the lot on the top of the cake in a single layer.

nom

-ready to eat!