So again I have failed to keep up with my promise of monthly
blogging but this year just seems to be zooming by! I do have a couple of
recipes in the bag that I will get around to posting soon, including my
new personal favourite ‘French buttercream’.
But until I get around to compiling all of my top
buttercream making tips here is another firm favourite of mine…carrot cake.
Thanks to a secret family recipe passed down from generation to generation
(well passed down from my mum to me) I think I make a pretty mean carrot cake.
The problem I find is that I am ridiculously impatient when it comes to letting
the cake fully cool before lathering on the lightly whipped up cream cheese
icing. This results in the icing warming up, beginning to melt and generally
slipping off of the cake as I attempt to scoop it up from the sides and pile it
back on top. Now this problem could be solved with me just waiting a little bit
longer before icing the cake…or alternatively bake the carrot cake with the
cream cheese topping already applied!!
So here is a recipe for a mascarpone topped carrot cake bar. My recipe was inspired by this recipe over at le crème de la crumb. I, possibly controversially, added raisins, which I don’t think any good carrot cake should be without, as well as adding a few nuts. Unlike Tiffany, who on the original recipe managed to produce a lovely cream cheese swirl effect on her carrot cake, I just ended up with a layer of the mascarpone mix covering the whole of the cake surface. But is looks nice sliced up still and adds a different texture to the top of the cake.
So what are you waiting for…give this a go!
INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon
baking powder
1 teaspoon
cinnamon
180g plain
flour
1 cup of
grated carrot (I used 3 carrots to get this)
75g raisins
50g walnuts
(roughly chopped)
225g caster
sugar
50g melted
butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon
vanilla essence
120g
mascarpone cheese
60g caster
sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon
vanilla essence
25g flour
Preheat the
oven to 180°C and grease a 12”x9” baking tray (or similar)
Sift
together the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and set aside.
In a separate
bowl mix the carrots, raisins, walnuts, sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla
essence and mix together. Then gradually fold in the flour mix until fully
combined. Transfer the batter to the greased pan and spread out evenly.
In a clean
bowl mix the mascarpone, sugar, egg, vanilla and flour together before
dolloping on top of the carrot cake mix. At this point you can either use the
tip of a knife to create a swirl effect, or as I did just smooth a layer of the
cheese mix over the whole baking tray.
Bake for 25
minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove from the
oven and allow to cool (a little) before tucking in!!
