Drunken Carrot Cake With Stem Ginger, Marmalade, and Cream Cheese Icing By Anna Barnett

Drunken Carrot Cake With Stem Ginger, Marmalade, and Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

Carrot Cake:
140g raisins
100g dried apricots, roughly chopped
8 dates, stones removed and chopped
2 generous glugs of brandy
Butter for greasing
580g self-raising flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
3 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tsp ground ginger
120g stem ginger, diced
Zest of 1 orange
600g light brown sugar
660g carrots, coarsely grated
140g walnuts, halved
8 free-range eggs, beaten
380ml sunflower oil

Zested Cream Cheese Icing: 
70g butter, softened
280g full-fat cream cheese
130g icing sugar
Zest of 1 orange

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 180˚C. Begin by combining the raisins, apricots, and dates with the brandy and set to one side to soak for 20 minutes.

Generously grease your bundt tin with butter, and sprinkle over a little flour so that it’s evenly covered.

Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and ground ginger in a large bowl to thoroughly combine then add the stem ginger, orange zest, light brown sugar, carrots, and walnuts. Drain the dried fruit from the brandy, and add these to the mixture, followed by the beaten eggs and sunflower oil. Mix until combined, and pour into your bundt tin.

Place in the oven, for 1.15 hours, and to check that it’s cooked through, use a skewer or knife. It should come out clean when pricked the whole way through.

Allow to cool for around 10 minutes before turning out, then cool completely before icing.

For the cream cheese icing, beat together the softened butter and cream cheese, then add in the icing sugar until you have a smooth consistency Add the zest, and then generously coat your cake.

Enjoy!

RECIPE: Anna Barnett