Carrot Cake
My husbands favourite (wedding-)cake: Two thick layers of warm spiced cake and a cream cheese frosting whipped stiff enough to actually hold its shape. It's the carrot cake people ask you to bring again.
Ingredients
Method
Mix the vanilla, apple sauce, eggs, olive oil and both sugars together until smooth.
Whisk in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon until just combined, then fold in the grated carrots.
Divide the batter evenly between two greased and lined 20cm (8-inch) tins — about 750g per tin.
Bake at 175°C for 45 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely in their tins before turning out — frosting a warm cake is the fastest way to lose it.
For the frosting, whip the butter alone first until pale and almost white, then add the icing sugar and cream cheese.
Keep whipping until the frosting holds stiff peaks — this can take 5 to 10 minutes, trust the process, it does get there.
Layer one cake, spread over some of the frosting, top with the second layer and use the rest to cover it.
Pipe the remaining frosting into dollops on top if you want it to look finished.
This keeps well in the fridge for up to four days, and it's honestly better on day two once the cinnamon has settled in properly.