The Best Ever Carrot Cake

So, it was my birthday last month. And for a special treat, instead of a regular birthday cake, my boyfriend bought me two delicious patisserie slices of cake all for myself. The first was a mouth-wateringly decadent chocolate brownie cheesecake. And the second, I vowed to myself that I would re-create as soon as the first mouthful passed my lips.

It was a carrot cake of epic proportions: chunky yet light slices of delicately spiced and incredibly flavourful sponge, sandwiched together with a rich and creamy buttercream filling. OMG. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

And from that moment on, I researched carrot cake recipes like a crazy person. I have settled on a slightly modified version of the Jamie Oliver recipe, and it tasted JUST LIKE I DREAMED IT.

Another reason I love this recipe is that it helped me use up some of the THIRTY eggs that my boyfriend decided to pick up at the shop. Other people would make omelettes. But omelettes aren't cake. And this is an epic cake.

Ingredients for the cake

• 250g butter
• 250g brown sugar
• 5 large eggs, separated
• Zest and juice one orange
• 170g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 100g ground almonds
• 100g chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch ground cloves
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 250g grated carrots
•  

Ingredients for the icing

• 200g Philadelphia cheese
• 75g icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180degrees.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, to prevent splitting. I had a photo for this but I uploaded the wrong one.

Add in the orange zest and juice.

Mix together the flour and baking powder and stir through the mixture.     

         

Then when the flour is well mixed, add in the almonds, walnuts and spices.

Finally stir in the carrots and mix well until all is well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites until fluffy, then fold this into the cake mixture.

Divide this mixture evenly into three prepared (lined and greased) cake tins, and bake for 30-35 minutes in the oven until cooked through. It will look lumpy and gross, but it will be great.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on a cooling rack for at least one hour.

While the cake is cooling down, make the icing by mixing together the cheese and icing sugar.

Sandwich the cake layers together with a layer of icing, and then spread the rest on top.

Dot with walnuts and slice up!

I just want to lick it

MY SLICE