It was my brother’s girlfriend, Angela’s, birthday and I wanted to make her a cake. I know Carrot Cake is her fave and I thought, what with Easter coming up, it might be quite apt. Not one for being too traditional, I wanted to put a little bit of a spin on it. So was born the Maple Syrup Carrot Cake. Well, Maple Syrup tastes good with most things, right?
Easter Eggs are over rated anyway…let’s just eat more cake :)
Ingredients for Maple Syrup Carrot Cake
for the cake
240g plain flour
60g ground almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
140g butter
120g caster sugar
120g maple syrup
2 medium eggs
300g grated carrot (which is about 4 medium carrots)
for the cream cheese frosting
280g icing sugar
40g butter (at room temperature)
125g cream cheese
1 tsp maple syrup
optional decoratation
a little cinnamon for dusting
a few carrot sweets (mine were from M&S)
lined or greased loose bottomed cake tin, 7″ (can use 8″ but reduce cooking time by about 5-7 mins)
preheat oven to 180oC
1) In a medium bowl sift in the flour and then the ground almonds, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix well and set aside.
2) In a large bowl whisk together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Once done, pour in the maple syrup and, again, whisk well. Then repeat with the eggs, one at a time. Then plop in the grated carrot and mix with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.
3) Pour half of the flour mixture into the butter/carrot mixture and fold together with a wooden spoon. Being careful not to over mix. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture.
4) Pour into your prepared baking tin (click here and go to number 8 for a perfectly flat topped cake!) and place on the middle shelf of the oven for 40-45 mins. It’s done when a skewer inserted comes out clean and it is beginning to brown on top. Leave to cool in the tin then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5) While in the oven it’s time to make the frosting! In a medium bowl chuck in the butter and icing sugar and whisk together. Once this has combined as much as possible before you cover EVERYTHING in white powder, add the cream cheese and maple syrup and whisk on a high speed for at least 3-4 minutes. Done!
6) Once the cake has completely cooled, get a sharp knife and cut the cake in two. I do this by turning it gently on it’s side and slicing down in as straight a line as possible.
7) Pop half the frosting in the middle of the bottom part of the cake and spread out towards the edges. Once done, place the top on and repeat. (I leave a little edge round the side cos I think it looks quite pretty) For decoration I sifted cinnamon on top and popped on a few carrot sweets (from M&S) in the middle. Viola!
Happy Birthday Angela and Happy Easter everyone else!!!
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