Kel's Carrot Cake

So what with the frigid weather recently, I've been feeling very much like something comforting and homey. And to me, cakes don't come much more comforting than a good carrot cake. I think it's the softness and the cinnamon and the lovely rich cream cheese frosting that do it. There's something very Mrs Weasley about a carrot cake.

I got this recipe from Kelly, my best friend's mum, and I can't flaw it. Easy? Tick. Perfectly delish? Tick.

You'll need:
Cake
- 3 cups finely grated carrot
- 1 cup sultanas
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup raw sugar
- 2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 3/4 cup of vegetable oil (I used sunflower)

Frosting
- 250g cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 150 - 160 degrees celcius. Also, grease and line the bottom of a standard spring-form cake tin.

First, combine your dry ingredients in a big bowl...

And then mix in your wet ingredients, and pop the whole lot into the tin. That really is all the preparation you need to do.

Then bake for an hour until the cake is lovely and goldeny-brown. Let it sit in the tin for ten minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Then beat together the frosting ingredients and frost the cake! You can do it however you like of course, but I'm not a particularly dab hand at cake decorating (incidentally, if you do want a spectacular cake for an occasion, do check out my friend Chloe's page - she's opened a nice little business - http://www.facebook.com/Chloescakesandbaking) so I just did my best to smooth it on, and sprinkled some more chopped walnuts on top. Some may call it messy, I call it rustic. ;)

So there you are. Delicious carroty comfort! I do reccommend you give this recipe a go, and I hope you enjoy it! xx