Carrot cake with cream cheese & cinnamon frosting

Recipe
Carrot cake with cream cheese & cinnamon frosting
Makes 1 double-layered 20 cm cake
Recipe developed for AMC Cookware.
A classic carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting is a match made in heaven. We developed this recipe for AMC Cookware a while ago and it’s really good. The pineapple, carrots, nuts and spices add to the texture, taste and moistness of the cake. And if you have not tried a frosting like this one, with its cinnamon twist, then you are in for a big surprise. This cake is fit for any special celebration, as part of a tea table or even as a festive dessert.
Ingredients
Cake
500 ml (2 cups) cake flour
10 ml (2 tsp) baking powder
2,5 ml (½ tsp) bicarbonate of soda
2,5 ml (½ tsp) salt
10 ml (2 tsp) ground cinnamon
10 ml (2 tsp) ground mixed spice
4 large eggs
375 ml (1½ cup) sugar
300 ml sunflower oil
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence
180 ml (¾ cup) coarsely grated pineapple (or tinned crushed pineapple) (see tip)
625 ml (2½ cups) coarsely grated carrots
125 ml (½ cup) coarsely chopped nuts of your choice, like almonds, pecans, macadamias or walnuts (a mixture is also delicious)
Cream cheese frosting
30 ml (2 tbsp) soft butter
500 ml (2 cups) sifted icing sugar
1 x 230 g tub plain medium or full-fat cream cheese (see tip)
2,5 ml (½ tsp) ground cinnamon
extra nuts for garnish
Method
- Cake: Preheat oven to 180 °C. Line 2 x AMC 20 cm Baking Tins (or 2 x regular 20 cm baking tins) with baking paper and grease lightly with oil.
- Sieve the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
- Beat eggs and sugar together in another large mixing bowl with an electric beater or in a stand mixer for 5-8 minutes until light in colour and fluffy. Add oil and vanilla and beat until well blended.
- Fold dry ingredients into the egg mixture with a large metal spoon – just until mixed through and no dry flour is visible. Take care not to overmix.
- Loosen pineapple with a fork to allow for even mixing. Fold the pineapple, carrots and nuts into the mixture with the metal spoon, until just mixed through.
- Divide batter evenly between the two prepared tins and gently smooth on top.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Make sure to test the cakes in the middle as well.
- Allow cakes to cool down in the tins for a few minutes, gently loosen cakes from the edges and turn out onto cooling racks.
- Turn both cakes over, so that the flatter bottoms are turned upwards. This results in a flatter surface to ice. Allow to cool down completely.
- Frosting: Place the butter and sifted icing sugar in a bowl and beat together for a few minutes. Beat the cream cheese in, just until the mixture is smooth and blended – don’t beat too much, as the topping can become runny.
- Divide the icing in half and stir cinnamon into one half.
- Place one cake on a large plate. Evenly spread half of the white icing onto each of the two cakes. Spoon the cinnamon icing into a piping bag and pipe small dollops onto the top edge of the bottom cake layer.
- Carefully place the second cake on the top of the bottom layer. Pipe the remaining cinnamon icing in small dollops to round off the edge of the cake. Garnish with the extra nuts.
Tips
- If the grated or tinned pineapple is very wet, gently shake off or squeeze out some of the excess liquid before adding it to the batter.
- Check the packaging of cream cheese to make sure you are using the correct amount.
- When using the piping bag, be quick so that the warmth of your hands doesn’t melt the icing, making it too soft to pipe.



Images: Hein van Tonder.
Courtesy of AMC Cookware.