For anyone who has tasted The Hummingbird Bakery cakes, they know that they're are absolutely divine. For those who don't know of this wonderful bakery, it is a UK based bakery that make American style cakes. Their recipe books and other merchandise are available globally. I would highly recommend investing in their books if you're a keen baker. Their carrot cake definitely falls under the category of heavenly, however with these few additions to the recipe the cake just gets even better.
I started adding courgettes (AKA zucchini for you Americans) into my carrot cake years ago after trying my grandma's courgette cake, which was delicious and incredibly moist. I decided to put the recipes together to get an extra moist carrot cake. I promise you it works excellently. A friend introduced me to the seriously addictive whisky buttercream - you can still taste the cream cheese frosting but with a wonderful subtle kick of whisky.
You must be thinking that this cake is way too indulgent and one you should probably avoid, but technically it contributes to 2 of your 5 a day so really there aren't any reasons why you shouldn't be eating it. The recipe is easy to follow for any baker and will always come out great.
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Carrot and Courgette Cake
- Prep Time:30 mins
- Cook Time:30 mins
- Total Time:1 hr
- Servings:10
- Easy
- 300 grams soft light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 300 millilitres sunflower oil
- 300 grams plain flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus extra to decorate
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 grams carrots grated
- 150 grams courgettes grated
- 100 grams walnuts chopped
Ingredients
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Step 1
Preheat the oven to 170° celsius.
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Step 2
Put the sugar, eggs and oil in a bowl and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Don't worry if the mixture looks slightly split.
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Step 3
Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well mixed.
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Step 4
Stir in the grated carrots and walnuts by hand until they are all evenly dispersed.
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Step 5
Pour the mixture into the prepared tins. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
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Step 6
Leave the cakes to cool in the tins before turning out.
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Whisky Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prep Time:10 mins
- Cook Time:0
- Total Time:10 mins
- Servings:1
- Medium
- 300 grams icing sugar sifted
- 50 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- 125 grams cream cheese cold
- 30 millilitres whisky
Ingredients
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Step 1
Beat the icing sugar and butter together until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
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Step 2
Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Be careful not to over beat the mixture as it will go runny.
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Step 3
Finally, add the whisky and beat until incorporated.
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Step 4
Put one of the cakes on a plate or cake stand. Add half the frosting and spread all over the cake.
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Step 5
Then place the second cake on top. Add the rest of the frosting and spread around the cake.
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Piped Carrot Frosting
- Prep Time:20 mins
- Cook Time:0
- Total Time:20 mins
- Servings:1
- Medium
- 125 grams icing sugar sifted
- 40 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- 25 millilitres milk
- orange food colouring
- green food colouring
Ingredients
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Step 1
Beat the icing sugar and butter together until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the milk and then beat until completely incorporated.
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Step 2
Separate the icing into two bowls. Add orange colouring to one and green to the other.
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Step 3
Put the orange frosting into a piping bag with a standard tip nozzle. Then pipe zig-zags in the shape of carrots onto the cake. (Practising on some greaseproof paper beforehand definitely helps)
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Step 4
Pipe the carrots all around the cake. The cake should now look like this.
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Step 5
Put the green frosting into a piping bag with the same nozzle as before. Then pipe stalks onto the ends of each carrot.
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Step 6
At this point you can now sprinkle over some cinnamon or some chopped walnuts to finish the cake off.
Alexandra Clark