Carrot Walnut Cake with Mandarin Oranges
This is my take on the traditional carrot cake with a twist! I adore mini tangerines. Besides the fact that they continue to be held in high esteem with associations of regalness, joy and wealth in Chinese culture, mandarin oranges are sweeter and less tart in taste compared to regular oranges.
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 213 g brown sugar sifted
- 99 g vegetable oil
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 240 g fine cake flour sifted
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda don't forget to check the freshness of your baking soda
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups carrots shredded
- 1/2 cup walnuts coarsely chopped, extra for garnish
- 142 g mandarin oranges washed and chopped, seeds removed and excess juice drained; keep skin for zesting
- 1/2 tsp orange zest grated
For The Frosting
- 227 g cream cheese softened
- 55 g salted butter softened
- 2-3 tsp milk room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 400-600 g icing sugar (or confectioner's sugar) sifted
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder optional
- edible flowers for decoration
Instructions
To Make The Cake
- Pre-heat oven to 177 C. Grease bottom and sides of a rectangular 9 x 22 inch loaf pan with butter or non-stick baking spray, then lined it with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, oil and eggs (break eggs one at a time) with an electric mixer on low speed about 30 seconds or until well incorporated. Fold in flour, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla and salt then beat on low speed for 1 minute. Stir in shredded carrots, walnuts, oranges, orange zest and nutmeg. Beat again until combined.
- With a spatula, spoon the batter into the loaf pan slowly, making sure to spread it out evenly in all directions. Once done, give your pan a light tap a few times to burst any air bubbles.
- Transfer your pan to the oven (centre rack with top and bottom even heating) and bake for 35-40 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then remove the cake from the pan carefully (you can lift up the parchment paper in which the cake sits). If you find that the top of your cake has cracked, don’t worry as that can be easily fixed when you frost the cake later. Just slice off the top of the cake with a serrated knife to get an even layer before icing.
To Make The Frosting
- In the meantime, prepare the frosting. Scoop out your cream cheese onto the centre of a clean muslin cloth. As you would a piping bag, gather up the sides of the cloth and twist it then hold it over the sink or a bowl and apply pressure. You should see some excess liquid dripping out from the bottom of the cloth. Once you’ve gotten as much liquid out as possible from the ball of cream cheese, set it down on a kitchen towel and leave to dry out.
- Beat softened butter in a bowl with an electric whisk until smooth, then add cream cheese and whisk on medium high until well combined, about 1 minute. Measure 150g of sieved icing sugar with an electric scale, then spoon the sugar into the bowl slowly and beat for 30 seconds. Repeat until the frosting is very thick and stiff. Do a test by dipping your spoon into the batter then lift it up, or hold it upside down—the frosting shouldn’t slide off your spoon. Now you can refrigerate it for 10 minutes before using it. Don’t forget to cover the top of your bowl with cling wrap or a clean cloth before refrigerating.
Notes
Your cream cheese frosting should keep well in the fridge for 5 days before you use it, or up to 3 months in the freezer stored in a storage bag.