- Can be cut into 12 slices – Ready in 2.5 hours (including cooling time) –
For a special occasion I make this with the topping, for everyday cakes I make it without - it is delicious both ways.
Gather together…
3 slices (75g or 1 average bread roll) wholemeal bread - to make breadcrumbs with.
2 medium carrots (OR 1 large parsnip), topped and tailed and roughly quartered.
1 eating apple, de-cored and roughly quartered (don't cut up the apple until just before using or it will start to brown in the air).
1 well-packed-down cup (150g) brown sugar.
1/3 cup (50g) sultanas.
1 and 1/3 cups (175g) self-raising flour, sieved.
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda, sieved (to avoid unpleasant clumps).
½ tsp ground mixed spice.
1 tsp Cinnamon.
1/2 cup (125ml) sunflower / rapeseed oil.
2 medium eggs (slightly beaten).
Top with....
EITHER (if your mascarpone has a 'high' 43%+ fat content)...
2 tbsp (30g) icing sugar, SIEVED.
250g tub full-fat mascarpone, it must have a fat content of at least 43% (Morrisons and Tesco mascarpone works well) or else it will split and go liquid-y when it is mixed with the icing sugar.
OR (if your mascarpone has a 'lower' i.e. under 43% fat content)...
125g mascarpone cheese.
300ml double cream (MUST be double cream as it needs to whip up, DO NOT use Elmlea).
1 tsp vanilla extract.
2 tbsp (30g) icing sugar.
and...
1 tbsp brown sugar.
Get cooking…
1. Put the 3 slices of wholemeal bread into the toaster (for one round of toasting) to dry out - once toasted, leave them in the toaster to cool and dry out further, for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile butter-grease and line (and re-grease) the base of a large, 9 inch( 23cm) circular loose-bottomed cake tin - a reusable, cut-to-size cake-tin liner from Lakeland works well.
3. Put the toasted bread (one chunk at a time) into a food processor and pulse for 60 seconds to turn it into breadcrumbs.
4. Tip the bread crumbs into a medium-large mixing bowl - DON'T wash out the food processor as you'll use it again for the root vegetables and apple.
5. Roughly chop the 2 carrots OR the parsnip and blitz in the food processor for 30 seconds (carrot) or 60 seconds+ (parsnip) - the higher water content of the carrot means they will turn to mush if you blitz it for too long! Tip the well-chopped-pieces into the bowl (which the breadcrumbs are already in).
6. Chop the apple into quarters, remove the core and blitz for 20 seconds ONLY in the food processor (be careful as it will turn to runny mush and make the cake soggy if you over-blitz) and add the apple to the medium-large bowl. Now you can wash the food processor as you've finished with it - the carrot juice will stain it slightly orange if you leave it unrinsed.
7. Add the well-packed-down cup (approx. 150g) of brown sugar to the blitzed vegetables (and bread) and stir well.
8. Add the 1/3 cup of sultanas too and mix.
9. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan) or Gas 4.
10. Sieve in the 1 and 1/3 cups of SR flour, sieve in the 1/4 tsp of bi-carb and the spices (1/2 tsp of mixed spice and 1 tsp of Cinnamon). Don't mix yet as overmixing the flour will make the cake tough.
11. Add the 1/2 cup of sunflower / rapeseed oil and the 2 slightly-beaten eggs. Stir well until just combined (so there are no dry, floury patches).
12. Spoon the mixture into the prepared lined tin, level it gently and bake for 50 - 60 minutes.
13. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for at least 30 min (so it firms up), then ease a dinner knife around the edge of the tin as it may be stuck in places.
14. Then cool the cake for at least an hour on a wire rack in a cool room before making the mascarpone topping.
15. If you want to make the (optional) topping; first check the fat content of your mascarpone...
15(a). If your mascarpone has a 'high' 43%+ fat content: Into a medium bowl, SIEVE the 2tbsp of icing sugar (otherwise your filling will have unsightly clumps). Add the 250g mascarpone and stir VERY gently for up to 30 seconds. This simple two-ingredient filling ONLY works if your mascarpone has a very high fat content to stabilise the mixture, a lower than 43% fat content will mean the filling quickly becomes runny and leaks out of the cake.
15(b). If your mascarpone has a lower than 43% fat content, add double cream to stabilise it: In a medium bowl, place the 125g mascarpone, the 300ml of double cream and the 1 tsp of vanilla extract and mix with a handheld whisk for about 30 seconds. Sieve in the 2 tbsp of icing sugar and stir until fully mixed, this will take about 1 minute. It will be very runny at this stage - fear not. Then use an electric whisk for 2 - 5 minutes, until firm peaks form. Gently mix the 2 tbsp of icing sugar and the 250g of mascarpone together.
16. Sprinkle the 1 tbsp of brown sugar over the mascarpone-mixture and stir it in only slightly, to create sugary trails in the icing.
17. Pipe the icing onto the cake - I didn't have a large circular nozzle, so I just used the 1.3cm diameter circular end of the reusable piping bag (the tall white plastic part in the photo). You could also just use a plastic food bag with the corner shipped off to give a circa 1cm-diameter opening. Pipe closely-spaced 1.5 cm diameter whorls, varying the size of the whorls slightly will ensure all gaps are filled.
18. This cake will keep up to 3 days, keep it in the fridge due to the mascarpone, or in a cool place if you didn't ice it.
Adapted from a 'Best-ever Carrot Cake' recipe in a Prima magazine from circa 2008.