a rather pleasing carrot cake with lime mascarpone icing

servings
8-10

method

This carrot cake is an exceedingly good cake made all the more pleasing by the twist of lime mascarpone icing. It’s delicious, it works and it’s better than any other carrot cake I’ve tried. I would normally bake this in a square or round cake pan, but for the picture I used a lovely old loaf pan and it came out looking gorgeous.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line a 9-inch square cake pan or a round equivalent with wax paper. Beat the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food processor until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one by one, and add the orange zest and juice. Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder, and add the ground almonds, walnuts, spices and grated carrot and mix together well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then gently fold them into the cake mix. Scoop the batter into the prepared cake and cook in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes until golden and risen. You can check to see if the cake is cooked by poking a toothpick into it. Remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes out clean the cake is cooked; if slightly sticky, it needs a bit longer, so put it back in the oven. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a rack and rest for at least an hour.

Mix all the icing ingredients together and spread generously over the top of the cake. Finish off with a sprinkling of chopped walnuts.

ingredients

• 11⁄4 cups unsalted butter, softened

• 2 cups light brown soft sugar

• 5 large free-range or organic eggs,
separated

• zest and juice of 1 orange

• 11⁄2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 slightly heaped teaspoon baking
powder

• 1 cup ground almonds

• 4oz shelled walnuts, chopped, plus
a handful for serving

1 heaped teaspoon ground
cinnamon

• a pinch of ground cloves

• a pinch of ground nutmeg

• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger 10oz carrots, peeled and coarsely grated

sea salt

• for the lime mascarpone icing

• 4oz mascarpone cheese

• 8oz full-fat cream cheese

• 1 scant cup powdered sugar, sifted zest and juice of 2 limes

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1. by Laurie on Sat 21 Jan 2012 @ 19:09

I had the same problem with the cake being raw in the middle. Instead of a loaf pan, try a 9" round cake pan instead.

2. by Tata on Tue 13 Dec 2011 @ 09:14

I have made this cake like 4 times, it never worked, always raw in the middle. The icing is great. Deliicious magazine moreish carrot cake is easy to understand and the result is great.

3. by polly on Sat 03 Dec 2011 @ 13:41

Not sure if this will help.....but 1 cup = 8oz hope this is helpful.

4. by Katherine on Tue 29 Nov 2011 @ 20:50

I have made this cake twice now and had a similar problem to Rachel (11/11/11) in that it took way over 50 minutes to cook. When I tested at 50 minutes it was still raw in the middle. It took 80 minutes to cook. The oven temperature was definitely right and I am sure that I measured all the ingredients correctly. In his book 'Cook with Jamie, My guide to make you a better cook' the ingredients are listed with the weights in grams. The cake does not look oily and I don't think that I will have to discard it. But I will be inspecting it closely before I make the lime marscopone icing as the cake itself looks very moist, bordering on gooey.

5. by rebecca kewley on Tue 29 Nov 2011 @ 14:52

the cake is magic but it takes to long to cook for when you are in a kind of rush for a party away to start in about 20 minutes isint it? i ind the cake really good though exsept i would have to get rid of the orange juice it makes it to sweet

6. by Rachel on Fri 11 Nov 2011 @ 21:20

Just made this cake today, what a disaster! Took 2 hours to cook despite recipe saying only 50 mins and even then it wasn't cooked properly in the middle. Has anyone else had this problem? I didn't have a square cake tin so made it in a 9 inch round tin. Had to throw the cake away, shame as the icing was lush! Any tips as to what went wrong? The cake was really oily but I followed the recipe measurements

7. by Betsy on Sun 04 Sep 2011 @ 02:07

I beleive there is an error with the eggs and sugar. For one 9 inch round I made it with 3 eggs and only 1 cup sugar - truned out GREAT! Did anyone else think that 2 cups brown sugar and 5 eggs was too much?

8. by Susie on Tue 16 Aug 2011 @ 22:02

Thank you Adam!!! I've made it before but struggled with the cup thing, but it is my favorite cake to bake.....and eat!X

9. by Adam on Sun 24 Jul 2011 @ 20:52

I've just discovered by accident that if you delete the final dash symbol from "lime-" at the end of the url it takes you to the same recipe with the measurements in grams. No idea why, hope it helps some people!

10. by Adam on Sun 24 Jul 2011 @ 20:48

I've got an old version of this printed out from when it was still in grams, here is the ingredients list: • 250g unsalted butter, softened • 250g light brown soft sugar • 5 large free-range or organic eggs, separated • zest and juice of 1 orange • 170g self-raising flour, sifted • 1 slightly heaped teaspoon baking powder • 100g ground almonds • 100g shelled walnuts, chopped, plus a handful for serving • 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon • a pinch of ground cloves • a pinch of ground nutmeg • 1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger • 250g carrots, peeled and coarsely grated • sea salt for the lime mascarpone icing: • 100g mascarpone cheese • 200g full-fat cream cheese • 1 scant cup powdered sugar, sifted zest and juice of 2 limes Hope this helps anyone else having issues with the cup measurements!

11. by Lucy on Sat 23 Jul 2011 @ 16:30

I don't understand the cups thing, what is this measurement?

12. by Carli on Mon 18 Jul 2011 @ 18:22

Since when have we in the UK measured anything by cups! I have checked at the top of the page and i am viewing the UK version so why is it not in grams? I have made this recipe lots of times and it's always been in grams so why have i come on today and all measurements are in cups?? Plus the converter does not help. I'm really disapponted by this and as a result am going to have to search for another carrot cake recipe as i cannot understand cups...even with the converter...sort it out!

13. by Michaela on Wed 22 Jun 2011 @ 22:03

I made this for a friends birthday as carrot cake is her favourite, Bit unsure of the lime but added it. Wow!!! This cake is soooooo good - stunning. Just a shame i am getting hounded to make it again :) x

14. by Sam on Wed 08 Jun 2011 @ 23:44

I'd like to make this cake in a 9-inch round tin. What adjustments should I make to the oven temp/cooking time? Thanks

15. by Yvonne Perry on Tue 24 May 2011 @ 13:49

Why oh why do people do this when displaying recipes? When giving ingredient amounts for lime mascapone icing you clearly state 4oz of mascapone cheese, and 8oz full fat cheese, but then you say '1 scant CUP of powdered sugar' great! as cups come in all sizes wouldn't it have been more helpfull to have given the necessary amount in oz? Please reply with amounts in oz, thankyou.

16. by Natasha on Sat 21 May 2011 @ 12:21

I can't bake, but this was an absolute hit!! Everyone I know loved it . Ive had loads of requests to make it again! I haven't bought a shop made one since!!

17. by Barbara Mc on Sun 15 May 2011 @ 21:30

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you for the conversion option in answer to my request. AWESOME!

18. by Jennifer on Tue 10 May 2011 @ 03:31

This cake was the bomb!!! Best carrot ever. Not too sweet, lots of nuts (including the almond flour) and omg the lime mascarpone frosting. Died and gone to heaven. Thank you so much for sharing this one!

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