Around here - Carrot Cake

In my last post I mentioned I was making this Carrot Cake today as I had a few extra carrots in the fridge.  We ate half of the cake and I gave my very good neighbours the other half along with a dozen eggs.  My neighbour mows my footpath when he does his every week and also trims all my hedges at the front as well.  They are such a lovely family and always keep an eye out for us.  Having good neighbours is worth their weight in gold.  This cake was easy to make and would freeze well for later on if you didn't want to eat it on the one day and/or could be put in the fridge in a container too.

CARROT CAKE [Recipe link here]

• 1/2 cup Canola or Olive Oil [I used Olive Oil]
• 3 Large Eggs
• 3 cups Carrot (grated)
• 1 1/2 cups Flour
• 1 cup Soft Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons Ground Mixed Spice
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup chopped Walnuts (optional)

CREAM CHEESE ICING [I used the Thermomix Carrot Cake icing recipe]

• 100gms Cream Cheese
• 50gms unsalted butter
• 230gms Icing Sugar
• Chopped Walnuts to decorate (optional)

Preheat Oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Place the oil and eggs into a large bowl and whisk.

Then add grated carrot and mix through.

Sift the following into the wet mixture, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.  Add chopped up walnuts now if using them.  Stir until evenly combined.

Line a 23cm tin, pour in the batter and bake 25-35 mins. [I cooked mine for 35 minutes]

Once it’s cooled beat your cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar with a hand mixer until it’s smooth.  I made my icing in the Thermomix - place cream cheese, unsalted butter and icing sugar into the Thermomix on Speed 9 for 20 seconds.

Ice your cake and decorate with the chopped walnuts. Place it into the fridge in a sealed container and you will have something lovely to enjoy for the next few days or weeks.