Easy Spiced Carrot & Pecan Cake
Easy Spiced Carrot & Pecan Cake
I’ve been making this carrot cake for years and it is a firm family favourite. It’s beautifully moist with a good dose of cinnamon spice. I let my stand mixer do all the hard work whisking. I have a Smeg one and love it. It guarantees completely smooth and irresistibly creamy frosting - that is arguably the best bit of any cake.
Ingredients
100g pecans, roughly chopped
350g raw carrots, peeled and grated
270g plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
2 tsp mixed spice
275g golden caster sugar
4 large eggs, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
250ml sunflower oil
For the icing
100g unsalted butter, soft
350g cream cheese, soft
200g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pecan halves to serve
Method
Preheat your oven to 180° fan setting.
Grease and line three 8 inch cake tins with parchment paper.
In a medium sized bowl whisk together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, mixed spice and salt.
In your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat again.
With the beater on a low setting slowly add your oil.
Then add the flour mix and beat just until incorporated.
Remove bowl from stand and fold in the carrots and pecans. Pour the batter evenly into the three prepared tins (about 450g per tin) and level off with a spatula.
Bake for 25 mins until the cakes bounce back slightly when you press them and a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before removing and allowing to cool completely.
To make the icing just add all your ingredients to the mixer with the paddle attachment fitted and blend until smooth.
Ice the first layer with about a quarter of your icing and place onto your serving plate. I like to invert my first two layers for a level cake. Ice the second and place this on the first before icing the top and sizes of the final cake.
Top the carrot cake with whole pecans or roughly chopped nuts if you prefer. Enjoy.
If you are looking for more cake recipes try this Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Cake or this Lemon Layered Raspberry Jam Cake.