Lorna's Carrot Cake Bars

For our "Not the Olympics" theme, i decided to go with; not 5 (4), not round (rectangular), raaaaandomly coloured (red, blue, yellow and green) cake bars. And because i haven't made a carrot cake in a while i chose that. I was also inspired by the fact that i spent a good 30 minutes aww-ing over some mini loaf tins in a shop and my boyfriend finally gave in and bought them; i had them for about 3 months still in the shrink wrap. Oops. Anyway, on with the show.

Ingredients:

150g plain flour/wholewheat flour mix

2 eggs, separated

175g caster sugar

85ml rapeseed oil (or vegetable oil)

125ml buttermilk

1tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

2tsp cinnamon

2 medium carrots, grated

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175C and grease 4 mini loaf tins.

Beat the egg whites until fluffy. Add 75g of the sugar and beat to stiff peaks. In a separate bowl beat the buttermilk, egg yolks, oil and remaining sugar together. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir in the carrot and then finally fold in the egg whites. Don't be scared of folding; the carrot will weight the batter down a fair bit so you'll lose some air. Try to be gentle but thorough until the mix is well combined.

Spoon into the individual tins and bake for 30 minutes until well risen and a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool in the tins then tip them out. I cut each loaf in half and put a layer of maple buttercream in the middle (each of a different colour).

Stacey's Easter Carrot Cake

It’s almost Easter and once again we’ve gone a bit Baking Mad! We decided to run a little competition in the club this month – to bake and blog about an Easter themed recipe. The favourite recipe(s), as voted by our club members and a few special guest judges would win a bundle of baking goodies. We’ve also submitted all of these recipes to BakingMad.com, to join their excellent selection of Easter recipes, such as Hot Cross Buns, EasterCakes, Cake Pops and more!

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This is my entry to the Easter Competition. Originally I attempted to make some stuffed bread rolls in the shape of bunnies, but unfortunately they didn't turn out too well so I ended up with only 2 hours to make whatever I could using ingredients I had in the house. Luckily for me I had an abundance of carrots in! My Easter bake is a deliciously moist carrot cake covered in a sweet yet tangy cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 large carrots (roughly 200g grated weight)
200g self raising flour
150g soft light brown sugar
50g chopped macadamia nuts
2 large eggs
1tbsp lemon curd
1tsp mixed spice
100ml vegetable oil

For the icing:
100g soft cream cheese
50g unsalted butter
50g vegetable shortening
300g icing sugar
1tbsp lemon curd

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45-50 minutes
Makes 12 slices

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and grease and line a 7" baking tin.
2. Grate the carrot into a large bowl, then add in all of the other ingredients and stir until combined. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire wrack to cool completely.
3. To make the icing, beat together to cream cheese, butter and shortening until smooth, then stir in the icing sugar and lemon curd until just mixed in - over beating here will make the icing too runny.
4. Once the cake has completely cooled, spread the icing over the top and sides using a pallet knife. 

PS - this recipe will also be submitted to http://www.bakingmad.com/ideas/easter-baking  - so keep an eye out for it there!