Eh, What's Up Doc?

Carrots! That's what.

Ethan's favourite veggies, but Edna absolutely won't touch them... unless they're hidden in yummy, moist, spicy, crunchy Carrot Cake!

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
250ml vegetable oil
150g brown sugar
3 eggs
500g coarsely grated sweet carrot (sweet, as oppose to bland. I like to use the Aussie medium-size carrots found in NTUC supermarkets that are "brandless".)
120g coarsely chopped walnuts (I crush the walnuts individually because I like coarser bits in the cake.)
375g self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp mixed spice

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Grease a 9" x 9" pan and line with baking paper.
3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice together in a bowl.
4. Whisk eggs and sugar on MED till thick and creamy.
5. Fold in the oil lightly. Don't worry if the oil doesn't bind into the mixture at this stage - because it won't. Therefore, you don't need to stir the mixture too long.
6. Fold in the carrot and the walnuts. Again, don't worry if the carrot and walnuts don't get mixed evenly; the mixture still won't bind well until you...
7. Add in the dry ingredients. In this case, add in a few spoonfuls at a time, until the batter is more or less even.
8. Pour mixture into the pan and bake for about 1hr or till cooked. Test using skewer. If the top is browning too fast, cover it loosely with foil.
9. Stand cake in pan for 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack. Turn cake top-side up to cool.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
30g butter
80g cream cheese
lemon zest from 1 lemon
120g icing sugar

Method:
1. Cream butter, cream cheese and lemon zest till light and fluffy.
2. Gradually add in the icing sugar.
3. Cream till smooth.

After the carrot cake is cooled, frost the cake with the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. Then sprinkle the with extra lemon zest and coarsely chopped walnuts.

Voilá! Carrots even non-carrot eaters would give a second look. heh.

ETA on 11 July 2007:
If you want to reduce the recipe, or just as a variation, a great way of making this cake is to make cupcakes! Just follow the above method and then fill up the cups 3/4 to the top.

Make sure you bake for only 40min!

You can decorate those cuppies with carrot slices shaped into carrots, like so:

A close-up look - that's a spring onion stalk! heh