Carrot Cake

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.

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