Carrot Cake

As a child, the thought of carrot cake sounded awful to me. As did cheesecake for that matter. Who in their right mind would want vegetables and cheese in a cake? Oh, how young and naive I was...

Now that I've grown up a little, I've come to appreciate the modest carrot cake for what it is: an English classic. So, it was about time I made my own.

For the recipe, I turned to my trusty BBC Good Food, choosing a carrot cake with cinnamon frosting (because it's not a true carrot cake without that smothering of delicious frosting, amirite?). I only made a few changes to the recipe, swapping the loaf tin for a round cake tin and scrapping the wholemeal flour for normal self-raising flour. However, I made the mistake of using low-fat Philadelphia for the cream cheese frosting. Turns out low-fat cream cheese makes for incredibly runny frosting, who'da known? So my advice, stay away from the Philly and use more dessert-friendly Mascarpone.

Although I love extravagant, in-your-face cakes with layer upon layer and topping upon topping, there's always something special about a minimalist cake. Just clean white icing and a few walnuts. Sometimes simple is best.

Soft, moist and deliciously flavoursome. Treat yourself to a slice or two alongside a cuppa. Go on, you deserve it.

Have you ever made carrot cake? What's your trusty recipe?

Love, Beth xxx