Ingredients
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup raw sugar
¾ cup golden canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup walnuts, chopped coarsely, toasted
3 cups coarsely grated carrot (about 4 medium carrots)
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon mixed spice
pinch salt
Icing
125g cream cheese, softened
75g butter, softened
250g pure icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pre-heat oven to 150°C. Line 21cm x 11cm loaf cake pan (or pan of similar size) with baking paper.
Place chopped walnuts on a baking tray lined with baking paper and place in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted.
In a large bowl combine eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla essence. Stir in grated carrots and toasted walnuts. Sift flour, soda, mixed spice and salt into egg mixture and stir until combined.
Pour mixture into prepared cake pan. Bake for 1 hour at 150°C, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and leave in pan for 5 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack or board to cool.
Icing
Place softened cream cheese and butter in a large bowl and beat with electric mixer (or use food processor) – until smooth, Add icing sugar and lemon juice and continue to mix until smooth.Spread over top and sides of cooled cake. Store in a cool place in an airtight container.
This recipe can easily be doubled to make two cakes, or one large cake. Cooking time will depend on the oven. Baking the cake in a slow oven (150°C) prevents the cake from burning on top, and extending the cooking time a little will result in the cake having a firmer top, base and sides.