Cookery with Mrs Smith in Class 1

The children in Class 1 recently enjoyed having a go at baking their own mini Carrot Cake buns. Mrs Smith brought in a lovely recipe which had a subtle spicy flavour and was nice and sweet due to the moist, grated carrots.

The children have used lots of different skills, such as grating, pouring, whisking, mixing, and spreading. You can have a go at making this cake at home – Annabel Karmel's recipe is below:  

Cake Ingredients:

• 300g of peeled carrots
• 200g of golden caster sugar   
• 200g of plain flour
• 1/4 tspn of salt
• 2 tspns of baking powder   
• 1/4 tspn of bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tspns of mixed spice
• 85g of raisins
• 100ml of sunflower oil
• 3 medium eggs
• 1 tspn vanilla extract

Icing Ingredients:

• 60g of softened butter
• 225g of mascarpone or cream cheese
• 110g of icing sugar
• 3 to 4 drops of vanilla extract

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Grate the carrots.
2. Place the grated carrot in a bowl. Add the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and mixed spice.
3. Then add the raisins and mix everything together.
4. Whisk together the oil, eggs, and vanilla in a jug, then pour onto the carrot mixture and stir. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes.
5. To make the icing: In a large bowl, mix together the butter and cheese using a wooden spoon. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and stir until smooth.

When your cake (or mini buns) are cooked, they should be risen and firm to the touch. Push a skewer into the centre - if it comes out clean, they are ready.

When cool, decorate with the icing and carrots made with fondant icing and tinted with food colouring. Enjoy!