Carrot and cardamom are a wonderful combination of flavours. The cake itself is moist enough but for that extra special touch you can add the delicious cinnamon cream cheese frosting. If you want to go all out, you can make mini carrots out of marzipan with a little orange food colouring and angelica root for the stalks.
For the cake:
Butter, for greasing
275g self-raising flour
1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom pods, split and seeds ground
275g caster sugar
4 large free-range eggs
250ml rapeseed oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
400g carrots, peeled and finely grated
For the frosting:
200g cream cheese
50g softened butter
450g icing sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 x 23cm (9in) springform cake tins with removable bases
Large bowl
Standalone mixer or electric whisk
Sieve
Wire rack
Black Forest Cake is a traditional German dessert that has been well and truly adopted by happy dessert eaters worldwide. Typically, black forest cake consists of several layers of chocolate cake, with whipped cream and cherries between each layer. Then the cake is decorated with additional whipped cream, more cherries, and chocolate shavings. This version is particularly delicious as I spike each layer of the cake with rum or kirsch, a fragrant cherry liqueur making it moist, boozy and oh so good. Recipe from The Pleasures of the Table: Rediscovering Theodora Fitzgibbon.