Carrot Cake

Carrot cake revisited. I've baked this carrot many many times. Each time I baked, I tweaked it a bit. Sometimes I add extra spice, other times, I add raisins. After baking so many times, this was the best carrot cake I've tried so far. When I brought it to my friend's house, she said it was better than Cedele's carrot cake. Ahem...I was *flushed* flattered. The carrot cake was very moist with an assorted texture for the palate. I suspected the rum (added in from the raisins) brought out the taste of cinnamon very well.

Recipe for Carrot Cake, modified from Yochana's blog.
Makes a 8" round cake


Ingredients:
3 Eggs
150g Milk
210g Brown sugar
1/2 tsp Fine salt
180g Oil (I use rice bran oil)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
285g Plain flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 1/2tsp Cinnamon powder
100g Black raisins pre-soaked in rum
230g Shredded carrots
150g Walnuts, coarsely chopped


Cream Cheese Frosting:
250g Cream cheese
70g Butter, softened
60g Icing sugar
1/2 Grated lemon zest
1 tbsp Lemon Juice


Sweetened Shredded Coconut for decoration (optional)


Method:

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar until creamy.
2. Add in the milk gradually, then the salt.
3. Pour in the oil slowly and mix well. Then add in vanilla extract.
4. Add in the sifted flour mixture - flour, baking powder, baking soda and ground cinnamon. Stir to incorporate.
5. Use a spatula to mix in the raisins (together with the rum), carrots and walnuts.
6. Pour into 2 8" round cake pan.
7. Bake in a preheat oven of 180C for about 25-30 mins, or till a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
8. Cream Cheese topping: Cream the cream cheese until smooth. Add in the butter and continue creaming until well blended. Sift in the icing sugar and continue creaming till lighter. Add in the lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix till well combined.

Assembly:

1. Ensure that the cake is thoroughly cooled before frosting.
2. Slice off one of the domed part of the cake.
3. Spread some cream cheese evenly on the 1st layer of the cake.
4. Then topped with the 2nd layer of the cake.
5. Frost the sides and the top completely.
6. Sprinkle some shredded coconut on top.
7. For the centre piece, I mixed the remaining carrot cake piece from #2 above with some cream cheese to make it into a ball. Then frost it all over with cream cheese and use it as my decorated topper.