- Briony May
Spiced Carrot Cake with Spiced Orange Buttercream
Updated: Oct 18, 2018
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.
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.
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