This is a lovely carrot cake that brings the best out of the orange vegetable. The honey and orange zest add wonderful flavours to this cake. It’s pretty wholesome, with lots of carrots, wholewheat and a lower sugar content than most cakes.
Ingredients:
4 eggs
100g unrefined caster sugar
300ml rapeseed oil (for a slightly lighter flavour, 150ml each rapeseed and sunflower oil)
300g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
4 medium-large carrots, finely grated
100-200g runny honey, to taste
For the icing:
150g unsalted butter, softened
180g cream cheese
Finely grated zest of an orange
50g-100g icing sugar, to taste, sieved
Method:
1. Grease and line a 23cm diameter, springform cake tin.
2. Put the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a mixer. Using the mixer or electric beaters, beat together for about 10 minutes, until pale, foamy and slightly thickened. Add the oil and beat for a couple of minutes more.
3. Preheat the oven to fan 180°C. Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt to sieve into the mixture. Tip any bran left in the sieve into the mixture too. Fold in lightly. Finally, fold in the grated carrot. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
4. Gently warm the honey in a saucepan or the microwave for a short while (be careful not to boil). Pierce the hot cake all over with a small knife or a skewer. Slowly pour the hot honey to soak into the cake. Leave in the tin to cool completely before turning out.
5. The cake is lovely just like this but, if you'd like to ice it, beat the soft butter in a bowl until smooth and fluffy, then beat in the cream cheese and orange zest. Sweeten to taste with sieved icing sugar. Spread over the cake when it's cold.
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