Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Serves: 16 -20

Ingredients

160g (1 cup) dextrose

310ml (1¼ cups) macadamia or sunflower oil

200g (2/3 cup) apple purée

6 eggs

3 carrots (about 350g), finely grated

150g (1½ cups) walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped (optional)

300g gluten-free flour blend

100g almond meal

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 × quantity lemon cream cream cheese frosting edible flowers, to decorate (optional)

It’s hard to beat a great carrot cake with lemony cream cheese frosting. The ‘naked’ method used here is quick and easy, with spectacular results. Decorate the cake with edible flowers from the garden, if you have them.

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan-forced). Grease three 20cm round cake tins and line the bases with non-stick baking paper. If you don’t have three tins, you can cook the cakes in two batches.

Whisk the dextrose, oil, apple purée and eggs together in a large bowl until well combined. Stir in the carrot and nuts (if using), then sift in the flour, almond meal, baking powder and spices, and stir until well combined.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared tins (I like to weigh each tin to make sure they are roughly the same). Smooth the surface with a spatula and bake for 20–25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the lemon cream cheese frosting.

If the cakes are slightly domed, trim the tops off to level them with a long sharp serrated knife.

Recipe extracted from Natural Bakes by Caroline Griffiths, Smith Street Books, AUD$39.99, available now

Put a little dollop of the frosting in the centre of a serving plate and place four strips of baking paper around the edge. This will help to keep the plate clean of any icing. Place one layer of cake on the prepared plate. Spread about 160g (1 cup) of the frosting over the cake, taking it just over the edge. Repeat with the remaining layers, placing the top layer of the cake bottomside up (to achieve a sharp edge). Spread the remaining frosting over the top and side of the cake. Smooth off any excess frosting to achieve a ‘naked’ effect, just exposing the side of the cake. Remove the protective strips of baking paper from under the edge of the cake. Decorate with edible flowers, if desired.