CARROT AND WALNUT CAKE
Ingredients
- 2 free-range eggs
- 200g/7oz light brown sugar
- pinch salt
- 85g/3oz vegetable oil
- plus extra for greasing
- 250g/9oz carrots
- grated
- 35g/1¼oz walnuts
- chopped
- 125g/4½ oz strong flour
- sifted
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 200g/7oz cream cheese
- 100g/3½oz caster sugar
- 50g/1¾oz pistachio paste (available online)
- few drops green food colouring
- 250g/9oz marzipan
- few drops orange food colouring
- few drops red food colouring
- 20g/¾oz cocoa powder
- 6 tbsp cocoa nibs
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease six 10x5cm/4x2in disposable rectangular moulds or a six cup muffin tin.
- To make the cake
- whisk the eggs
- sugar
- salt and oil together in a large bowl. Add the carrots
- walnuts
- flour
- baking powder
- bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon and fold in to combine.
- Spoon the batter into the moulds or muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile
- make the topping. In a bowl combine the cream cheese
- sugar and pistachio paste. Add green food colouring
- stirring through a drop at a time
- until you get an even light-green colour. Set aside until ready to use.
- When cooked
- remove the cakes from the oven and set aside to cool. When completely cool
- spread the topping over the cakes.
- To decorate
- massage the marzipan to soften. Set aside a third of the marzipan. Knead in the orange and a little red food colouring into the remaining marzipan until you have bright-orange ‘carrot’ colour. Mould into mini carrots. Knead the green food colouring into the reserved marzipan
- mould it into carrots tops and attach them to the orange ‘carrots’.
- Place them on top of the cake and dust with cocoa powder.
- Along the top of each cake
- sprinkle a line of cocoa nibs to look like soil with the green tops of the carrots sticking out.

