250g light muscovado sugar
250ml sunflower oil
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
Beat these all together with an electric whisk.
250g wholemeal SR flour
300g grated carrot (do it in the processor until pulpy)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
100g raisins (optional)
60g ground almonds
2 tablespoons poppy seeds (optional)
Stir all of these ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Now combine the 2 bowls and beat vigorously. This will be a pretty huge amount, so choose your bowl wisely.
Now for your baking tin options: for a humdinger of a birthday cake, line two 7″ round tins and share the mixture between them; for a lovely treat for your work colleagues, a traybake in a rectangular tin might be less messy and more portable. Or why not try my compromise which is a standard brownie tin to do a little traybake, and one 7″ tin which I’ll split in the middle and ice inside and out?
Any way you choose, put your tins in a preheated moderate oven (180 degrees) for 25 – 40 minutes. Turn around 180 degrees midway through cooking, and turn down a little if they are browning too much before they turn springy.
And now for the best bit…the icing. The following measurements will make a lawdy-me amount of icing, so adjust according to taste and purpose.
300g full-fat Philadelphia (room temperature)
100g proper butter (soft)
600g icing sugar, sifted
2 – 3 teaspoons vanilla essence
Mix the Philadelphia and the butter together in a food processor or with an electric whisk until smooth, then add the icing sugar and vanilla and whisk until lumpfree and irresistible. Ice away with gay abandon.
They were delicious!
Thank you! And sadly, all gone!