Chocolate Carrot Cake Traybake
Serves 14
4 eggs
170g light golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
100ml oil
350g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp raisins, soaked in the juice of ½ an orange 200g grated carrots ½ orange, zest only
100g dark chocolate, in pieces
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
70ml milk
For the icing
100g softened butter
3 tbsp cream cheese
300g icing sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp orange zest
For the royal icing
100g sifted icing sugar
About ½ egg white
Orange colouring
14 sprigs of rosemary, for the “carrot stalks”
Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line a rectangle tin 32cm x 23cm with parchment.
To make the cake, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil together until light and fluffy.
Sift the plain flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger together and fold into the egg mixture.
Drain the raisins and add into the mixture with the carrots, orange zest and chocolate pieces / drops.
Spoon in the yoghurt and add enough milk to make a soft cake batter.
Pour into the prepared tin.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the cakes are cooked, insert a skewer and if it comes out clean then the cake is done.
Place on a cooling rack in the tin for about 20 minutes before removing.
To make the icing, combine all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until fluffy. This will take about 3 to 4 minutes.
To make the royal icing, place the icing sugar into a bowl and add just enough beaten egg white in to form a thick pipeable paste. Add the orange colouring and spoon into a piping bag fitted with fine nozzle.
To slice and decorate, it is important here to be accurate so they represent even “carrots”, so make a template and slice accordingly.
To make a template, you’ll need a piece of parchment, draw the rectangle in half and then measure equal distance making wedges of cake representing the carrots. Mark the cake using a cocktail stick indicating where to slice.
To cut the shape, using a sharp knife cut according to the template pieces. You should have “carrot” shape wedges.
You will end up with half pieces so join those together to form a whole carrot shape that you can spread with buttercream.
To decorate, spread the buttercream over each wedge. Insert the rosemary at the widest part of each slice to represent the carrot stalk. Using the orange piping bag, draw lines across the carrots. Place on a cake plate or stand or even a board.
