Saturday, 24 October 2009

Charlie Fox's Carrot Delight

This fantastic cake scored second place in the Cake catergory


175g dark brown soft sugar

2 eggs

80ml sunflower oil

40ml walnut oil

200g wholemeal self-raising flour

1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 tsp mixed spice

Grated zest 1 orange

200g grated carrots

175g sultanas/raisins

Topping:

150g Quark

100g cream cheese

(You can vary the Quark/cream cheese ratio to taste)

20 g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Syrup:

Juice ½ orange

1 tblsp lemon juice

40g dark brown soft sugar


Grease/line the base of an oblong cake tin (15cm x25cm)

Preheat the oven to 170ยบ C


Whisk the sugar, eggs and oil together. Then sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the mixed spice into the bowl, adding in all the bits of bran that stay in the seive. Stir together, then fold in the orange zest, grated carrot and the sultanas/raisins. Spoon into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, until it has risen all over and feels firm and springy in the middle.


To make the topping mix all the ingredients well together in a bowl, then cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for an hour or so.


For the syrup just whisk together the fruit juices and sugar so that all the sugar is dissolved.


When you take the cake out of the oven, stab it all over with a skewer (or, in my case, a mini screwdriver from a Christmas cracker) and spoon the syrup over evenly. Leave it to cool in the tin so the syrup soaks in.


When the cake has completely cooled, take it out of the tin, spread the topping over evenly with a palette knife (wavey pattern optional) and lightly dust with more cinnamon.


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