Carrot Cake

I'm excited to be taking part in a fun Easter collaboration with many talented bakers over on Instagram.

For this bake, you had to either incorporate carrots into your bake, such as in a cake, cookies or cupcakes, or you could include carrots as part of the decoration, along with other Easter themed things such as bunnies or crosses.

Be sure to check out the hashtags #eastercollab2019 to see all the baking creations.

I decided to bake a Carrot Cake for this collaboration.  This cake was made of three layers of moist cake with a delicious cream cheese frosting in between each layer.  It was then covered with a sweet buttercream frosting and decorated with sprinkles.

Do you need a fun and cute cake for Easter?  Why not make this Carrot Cake. You can decorate it anyway you like or just cover it with some frosting and add store brought Easter eggs or decorations.

Happy Baking xo

Carrot Cake

Ingredients

· 2 cups plain flour
· 1 cup caster sugar
· 1 cup brown sugar
· 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 4 eggs
· 1¼ cups oil
· 3 cups carrots

Cream-cheese icing

· 125 grams cream cheese, softened
· 40 grams butter, softened
· 2 cups icing sugar mixture, sifted
· 1 tablespoon cream or milk

Buttercream icing

· 175 grams butter, room temperature
· 4½ cups icing sugar
· 4-6 tablespoons milk
· 1½ teaspoons vanilla essence
· Food colouring (lemon yellow, orange, leaf green – americolor)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Spray three round 6-inch tins with oil and dust some flour around the tins.

3. Place caster sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract and oil into a large bowl and whisk until combined.

4. Add one egg at time and whisk until combined before adding the next egg.

5. Add sifted flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, a third at a time and mix until combined. Finally, add the grated carrots and mix until combined.

6. Spoon the mixture into the tins evenly. Make sure to only fill them up a third full and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon or off-set spatula.

7. Bake oven for 35 – 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream cheese icing

Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and butter in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the icing sugar, in batches, beating well after each addition. Add the cream or milk and beat until well combined.

Frosting is ready for use.

Buttercream icing

Place butter into a large bowl. Beat on low speed until butter is fluffy. Add 1 cup of icing sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and vanilla essence. Beat until combined and add the remaining 3½ cups of icing sugar.

Increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy (this will take a few minutes). Add more milk if the buttercream seems too stiff.

Frosting is ready for use.

Assembling the cake

Cut off the tops of the three cakes if needed to make them even.

Place one cake onto the cake board, securing it with a bit of buttercream at the bottom.

Pipe some cream cheese frosting onto the top of the cake, stack the next cake and do the same.

Lightly crumb coat the whole cake and place into the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Colour the buttercream to desired colours and create the final coat on the cake and place cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Remove cake from the fridge and add sprinkles to the side of the cake.

Pipe carrots on the side and to the top of the cake. Finally pipe the carrots leaves and add sprinkles.

Tips

· Batter makes 3 x 6-inch round baking tins (weighing about approx. 450 grams batter in each tin)
· You can also line the bottoms of the tins with some baking paper.
· Remember to rotate the tins halfway through for a more even bake.
· Allow cakes to cool completely before icing and decorating.

Did you bake this recipe?

Remember to tag @youcanbakeittoo on Instagram & hashtag #youcanbakeittoo 

so I can see your wonderful bakes.