Recipe

A Twist on the Hummingbird Bakery Carrot Cake

By Alexandra Clark at University of Edinburgh

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.

Carrot and Courgette Cake

  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hr
  • Servings: 10
Ingredients
  • 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

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Step 1

Preheat the oven to 170° celsius.

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
  • Total Time: 10 mins
  • Servings: 1
Ingredients
  • 300 grams icing sugar sifted
  • 50 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 125 grams cream cheese cold
  • 30 millilitres whisky

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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
  • Total Time: 20 mins
  • Servings: 1
Ingredients
  • 125 grams icing sugar sifted
  • 40 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 25 millilitres milk
  • orange food colouring
  • green food colouring

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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