Spiced Carrot Cake with Spiced Orange Buttercream

This carrot cake is simply delicious! It is moist, full of flavour and even though it has quite a few ingredients, it is straightforward to make. The buttercream is also spiced with cinnamon, allspice and ginger with a touch of orange extract; this finishes off the cake beautifully. Let me know if you give it a go!

Ingredients

Cake

320g carrots, grated

70g walnuts, chopped

30g pistachios, chopped

100g raisins

300g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp salt

300ml vegetable oil

5 medium eggs

1 tsp orange zest

Juice of half an orange

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g golden caster sugar

200g light brown sugar

Icing

250g unsalted butter, softened

500g icing sugar

1.5 tsp orange extract

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp ginger

Splash of milk (to loosen)

Decoration

8 walnut halves

1 tsp orange zest

2 tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Oven on to 180°C. Grease and line 3 x 6 inch tins or 2 x 8 inch tins.

2. Grate carrots. Chop nuts. Weigh out raisins.

3. In a big bowl, add oil, eggs, zest, juice, vanilla extract and sugars. Whisk to combine.

4. In another bowl, add flour, bicarb, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and salt. Whisk to combine.

5. Tip flour mixture into oil mixture. Mix to combine. Add carrots, nuts and raisins. Mix to combine. Divide into tins.

6. Bake for 35-40 minutes until skewer comes out clean.

7. Leave to cool.

8. Make icing. Beat butter in stand mixer with paddle attachment until light and smooth. Sift icing sugar, cinnamon, allspice and ginger into bowl. Add icing sugar in 2 batches. Mix well each time. Add orange extract. Mix well until smooth. Add splash of milk to loosen icing (it needs to be spreadable but not too sloppy).

9. Level off each cake using a serrated knife or cake leveller.

10. Add ⅔ of icing into large piping bag (you can do this with a palette knife too if you don’t have a piping bag). Cut 2cm hole in piping bag. Place one cake on plate/board. Pipe on icing. Level with palette knife. Put next cake on. Repeat.

11. Pipe icing around side of cake and on top. Smooth with palette knife or cake scraper.

12. Put remaining icing in piping bag with star nozzle. Pipe stars around base of cake and 8 on top. Place a walnut half in each star on top of cake. Sprinkle over zest and cinnamon.

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Spice Carrot Cake with Spice Orange Buttercream

Ingredients

Cake

320g carrots, grated

70g walnuts, chopped

30g pistachios, chopped

100g raisins

300g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp salt

300ml vegetable oil

5 medium eggs

1 tsp orange zest

Juice of half an orange

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g golden caster sugar

200g light brown sugar

Icing

250g unsalted butter, softened

500g icing sugar

1.5 tsp orange extract

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp ginger

Splash of milk (to loosen)

Decoration

8 walnut halves

1 tsp orange zest

2 tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Oven on to 180°C. Grease and line 3 x 6 inch tins or 2 x 8 inch tins.

2. Grate carrots. Chop nuts. Weigh out raisins.

3. In a big bowl, add oil, eggs, zest, juice, vanilla extract and sugars. Whisk to combine.

4. In another bowl, add flour, bicarb, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and salt. Whisk to combine.

5. Tip flour mixture into oil mixture. Mix to combine. Add carrots, nuts and raisins. Mix to combine. Divide into tins.

6. Bake for 35-40 minutes until skewer comes out clean.

7. Leave to cool.

8. Make icing. Beat butter in stand mixer with paddle attachment until light and smooth. Sift icing sugar, cinnamon, allspice and ginger into bowl. Add icing sugar in 2 batches. Mix well each time. Add orange extract. Mix well until smooth. Add splash of milk to loosen icing (it needs to be spreadable but not too sloppy).

9. Level off each cake using a serrated knife or cake leveller.

10. Add ⅔ of icing into large piping bag (you can do this with a palette knife too if you don’t have a piping bag). Cut 2cm hole in piping bag. Place one cake on plate/board. Pipe on icing. Level with palette knife. Put next cake on. Repeat.

11. Pipe icing around side of cake and on top. Smooth with palette knife or cake scraper.

12. Put remaining icing in piping bag with star nozzle. Pipe stars around base of cake and 8 on top. Place a walnut half in each star on top of cake. Sprinkle over zest and cinnamon.