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Possible Allergy warning – please read all recipes carefully
and be aware of any allergies or sensitivities that may affect your health and well-being

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Please Fave the original Here

This is definitely a labor of love from :3

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This got a lot of love over the weekend when I brought it to a family & friends garden party.
The ingredient list is a bit extensive, so I'll segment them up a little to try and help readability.

Recipe (makes one 20cm / 8" cake)

275g Self Raising Flour
200g Caster Sugar
130g Soft Brown Sugar
1tbsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2tsp Ground Ginger
1/2tsp Nutmeg
1/2tsp Salt
150g Sultanas or Raisins

250g Grated Carrot (about three large carrots should be enough)
100g Plain Yoghurt
230ml Oil (something neutral-tasting, ideally Vegetable but I used Rapeseed as usual)
4 Medium Eggs
1tsp Vanilla Extract

100g Soft Cheese
300g Icing Sugar
100g Softened Butter

1. Preheat your oven to 180*C and start by mixing all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl (Flour, Sugars, Spices and Salt). Mix until it's all consistent and crush up and lumps of brown Sugar that may still be knocking around.

2. In a large measuring jug, measure out your 230ml of Oil and crack all four Eggs in, along with the Yoghurt. Whisk thoroughly (or use an immersion blender) until the mix is smooth and there are no streaks of egg.

3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold it all together until you have a loose cake batter. Follow that up by stirring in the Sultanas and the Grated Carrot, then split the batter equally between two large cake pans that have either been greased or lined with baking parchment.

4. Bake at 180*C for 40-50 minutes. Skewer one of the cakes to check if it's fully cooked. Your skewer should come out clean. If you're still not sure, give the sponge a light press on top. If it doesn't feel firm enough, bake for another five or so minutes and check again. Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool for 15-20 minutes before removing them from their pans and leaving them on a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

5. This is about the time when you can make the icing. Beat together the Butter, Soft Cheese and Icing Sugar in a large mixing bowl until there are no lumps of sugar or streaks of Butter.

6. Gently take a bread knife to the top of one of your sponge cakes. Take off just enough of the top so that the cake is now completely flat. Smear half of your icing across the surface evenly and top it with your second sponge cake. Then decorate the top with your remaining icing. A large palette knife is ideal for this.

7. You can now decorate the top of your cake with whatever else you feel before cutting and serving. Sugar Flowers, more Sultanas etc.

Extra Note - I had enough leftover ingredients that I tried this again on Tuesday; but instead I made them into Cupcakes. This recipe will yield about 20-22 Cupcakes depending on the size. Not much is different, just fill your casings about 3/4 of the way and bake for 25-30mins at 180*C, and as before let them cool before laying on the icing.