BEST-EVER CARROT CAKE?

There’s lots of carrot cake recipes around but this really is brilliant. This keeps for days but it’s so delicious you’ll be hard-pressed to make it last the day.

Cake ingredients:

480g brown sugar

375ml light oil

4 eggs

Zest of 1 orange

1 teasp vanilla essence

280g wholemeal flour

1 ½ teasp cinnamon

1 teasp salt

3 cups grated carrot

120g chopped walnuts

2 teasp baking soda

Icing ingredients:

200g cream cheese

120g icing sugar

60g melted butter

1 teasp vanilla essence

Zest of 1 orange

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.  Line a round springform cake tin with baking paper.
   
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and oil.
   
   
3. Beat in the eggs one by one, followed by the orange zest and vanilla, and mix well.
   
   
4. Stir in the flour, cinnamon and salt, then fold in the carrot and walnuts.
   
   
5. Finally, add the baking soda and quickly stir in well.
   
   
6. Pour this mixture into the lined tin and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a skewer or knife poked into the middle comes out clean.
   
   
7. Remove from the oven and let it cool down completely – just leave it in the tin.
   
   
8. Once it is completely cool, remove from the tine and transfer carefully to a plate.
   
   
9. Combine all five icing ingredients and beat together well.
   
   
10. Ice the cake with a thick layer of the prepared icing and serve.