Carrot cake

Hello world !

So for my first blog post ever, I thought I would start with what I baked last weekend. A spicy carrot cake. A combination of recipes explored and thought of made to my final recipe. And it did come out quite well:) As confirmed by my husband ( no no not because if badly reviewed, it would devoid him of the sweet Sunday baking but honest opinion, i swear!) plus vouched for by his colleagues.

200 gm plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp clove powder
½ tsp ginger powder
1 orange zest
3 eggs
150 ml sunflower oil
150 gm brown sugar
50 gm caster sugar
50 gm raisins, dried fruits or walnuts (optional)
150 gm grated carrot

I used a hand blender to mix the ingredients. First, beat the sugar and oil till mixed, about 2-3 minutes. Then add the eggs one at a time. Now stir in the grated carrots and the orange zest. Mix the dry ingredients together in a seperate bowl. Add it to the wet mixture and beat till mixed together. Do not over beat. Grease and line a baking tin, and pour in the mixture. Bake at 170 ˚C till for about 45 minutes or till a skewer comes out clean. Cool over a wire rack.

For the icing, I used 150 gm of mascerpone cheese. Beat it till fluffy, 50 gm of softened butter and 150 gms of icing sugar, already sifted, a little at a time.I also added some lime zet for that extra tang. When the icing is smooth and fluffy, layer it on the completely cooled cake.

To decorate , I mixed some icing sugar with lemon juice to just the piping consistency and added red and yellow colour (to get the orange) for carrots and green for the carrot tops.

The final product: