Baking is now such a joy. Not only do I have a sunlight filled kitchen which fills me with happiness, but I also now own a Kitchenaid which makes the actual process of mixing and preparing that cake batter the most painless event ever. I can’t believe how easy it is! Best friend, welcome home!
The only thing marring my kitchen bliss is my temperamental oven. But the electrician’s on it, so really I will have my perfect kitchen very soon.
With my new kitchen, I decided a new apron was in order:
And with that, I decided the perfect cake to christen my new kitchen and new kitchenaid was a carrot cake. Mainly because I had a bag of carrots in the fridge and nothing else.
Carrot Cake
with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Makes 12 cupcakes and one loafIngredients
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Vegetable Oil
3 Large Eggs
Pinch Salt
1/2 teaspoon Bicarb Soda
2 cups Self Raising Flour
2 cups finely grated Carrot (around 4 large carrots)
1/2 cup Walnuts, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon NutmegCream Cheese Frosting
From Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
300g Icing sugar
125g Cream Cheese, cold
50g Unsalted Butter, room tempMethod
Carrot Cake
Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Beat sugar and oil until thick, then add 1 egg at a time and keep beating for a few more minutes.
Add salt, bicarb soda, carrots, flour, walnuts and spices.
Mix with wooden spoon until all combined.
Put batter in well greased loaf pan or tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until light golden and cake springs back when touched in the middle.Frosting
Beat the icing sugar and butter together with an electric mixer until well mixed.
Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated.
Turn the mixer up to medium high. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.
The recipe came from Emma over at Cakemistress. I trust her recipes with every bit of my being and if she says this recipe is awesome, you can bet anything that it is and will blow your socks off.
I did have some issues with my new oven. God bless the person who invented oven thermometers! My oven turned out to be about 60 degrees hotter than what the dial claims to be at. My poor cake would have died a horrible death had I popped it in without checking on the thermometer first! Fully baked and slathered with cream cheese frosting, I was almost ready to eat it. Almost.
Lemon zest on the top, and then I was ready. (To be fair, I forgot about the lemon zest until Sefie reminded me. Whoops!)
Would you like to come round for tea?
