Carrot Cake With Creamy Maple Icing

Just double the recipe and make two, trust me it will go too quick! This is a classic carrot cake, with a few nutritional adjustments and the most delicious icing… yum!

SERVES: 8

PREP TIME: 20MIN

COOK TIME: 60-70MIN

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INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups of wholemeal self-raising flour

• 1 tsp. bi-carb soda

• 2tsp. mixed spice

• 1 cup coconut sugar

• 2 eggs

• 2 tbsp. olive oil

• 3/4 cup apple sauce

• 1/2 cup milk (any will work!)

• 3 medium carrots, grated 

• 500g cream cheese

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

• 1 tsp. lemon rind

• 1/4 cup toasted walnut pieces

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm round cake pan and line the bottom with baking paper.

2. Sift flour, bi-carb soda and spice into a large bowl (tip the husks from the flour in too) and stir through coconut sugar.

3. In another bowl whisk together eggs, oil, apple sauce and milk. add this mixture to the dry mixture. Stir gently until just combined, add grate carrot and stir through.

4. Pour into prepared tin and bake in oven for 60-70min or until golden brown on top and a skewer or knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.

5. For icing, place cream cheese, maple syrup, lemon juice and lemon rind into a bowl and combine with an electric beater until fluffy. Once the cake is completely cool, slice in half horizontally and spread a layer of icing in the middle of the base. Next, return the top layer and cover the whole cake with a layer of icing. Finally, sprinkle toasted walnuts on top.