Laura's carrot cake for simple green living

Laura's gorgeous carrot cake is a real winner

This delicious carrot cake never fails. My mother, an excellent baker, made it for local restaurants for many years. It has always been a winning cake and even baking dummies will be delighted with the masterpiece they produce. The oil keeps moist until the last crumb is eaten. Excellent for surprise guests; not so clever to have around when you're trying to lose weight.

We like to think this is a simple green cake because it contains fruit and vegetables - well, that's our excuse anyway. Our cheap gas ovens don't have top elements, so we like baking cakes in a baking pan. It's also great fun to decorate over a larger surface with flowers and nuts and anything we have to make the cake look pretty.

I make this cake when I miss my mom or on any special occasion.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups cake flour

2 heaped tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp bicarb

3tsp mixed spice

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups oil

4 eggs

2 cups grated carrots

1 cup crushed pineapple

12 whole pecan nuts

1/4 cup apricot jam

Cream cheese icing

125 g butter

4 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

250g cream cheese

Method

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarb, mixed spice and salt

2. Beat the sugar, oil and eggs until nice and fluffy

3. Mix all the ingredients together

4. Pour into greased baking or cake pan

5. Bake at 180 until golden and a testing stick comes out clean. This cake was made in a baking pan for about 40 minutes in a gas oven.

Carrot cake in a baking tray ready for icing

Allow the cake to cool, and then make the cream cheese icing.