Best carrot cake EVER, fact!
Carrot Cake from Avoca Café Cookbook
Ingredients
400g/14oz castor sugar
4 eggs
400ml/14fl oz sunflower oil
400g/14oz self-raising flour
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon salt
400g/14oz carrots, grated
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the topping
175g/6oz full fat cream cheese
50g/2oz unsalted butter
Juice and grated zest of ½ lemon
350g/12oz icing sugar
Makes 2 loaves
Line two 900g/2lb loaf tins with baking parchment. Whisk the sugar, eggs and oil together until thick and pale, then mix in the flour, mixed spice and salt using an electric mixer and the balloon whisk. Stir in the carrots and vanilla essence. Pour the mixture into the loaf tins and bake in an oven preheated to 175oC/325of/gas mark 3 for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.
To make the topping, beat the cream cheese, butter, lemon juice and zest together, then beat in the icing sugar. Spread on top of the cooled cakes.