Carrot Cake
Make one large, or two medium cakes, or 24 muffin sized cup cakes.
Recipe can be halved.
3 cups plain flour
2 cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup undrained crushed pineapple (the smallest tin size is fine - (pineapple can be omitted))
2 cups grated carrot (usually 2-3 carrots)
4 eggs
1 cups oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
cup sunflower seeds
- Into a large bowl sift flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
- Add the sunflower seeds.
- In a separate bowl beat the eggs
- add the oil, pineapple, vanilla essence and carrots, mix.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients bowl, then pour in the previously mixed wet ingredients.
- Stir until all everything is combined and all the flour is absorbed.
- Put into prepared tins, and bake at 180° C. If making cupcakes, check after 15-20 minutes, so that a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- A recipe cake takes around 40 minutes, a full-size cake around an hour or more.
Cream Cheese Icing
250 grams cream cheese (not lite as its too runny and doesnt set)
50 gms butter, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 1 cups icing sugar
- Allow cream cheese to soften at room temperature.
- Soften butter at low temperature in microwave or over hot water in saucepan, being careful not to melt it.
- Add to the cream cheese, and beat together with a whisk until lump free (ok to have a few little lumps).
- Add the vanilla essence, then the sifted icing sugar.
- Pour over centre of cake and allow it to spread out.
- Help with a clean knife to get it to the edges.
- If icing cupcakes, cut a small corner in a plastic bag and squeeze icing through this in a spiral pattern from the outside in.
- Decorate cakes with a few pumpkin seeds, cut-up dried apricots and sunflower seeds.
