Creamy Yet Crunchy Carrot and Walnut Cake with Walnut Brittle

There are few things in life that are more satisfying than baking a cake. It is almost magic that a tin full of gooey wetness can go into an oven and come out smelling, looking and tasting like heaven.

My great aunt and uncle were up from London this week and as very traditional Brits they asked if we could have a cake for afternoon tea. This year the baking baton was handed over to me and I set about finding a recipe.

You really can't go wrong with Queen Mary Berry and so I took her carrot cake recipe and jazzed it up a bit with a walnut brittle for decoration. The cake itself was light and moist, the cream cheese icing was incredibly luxurious and the brittle provided a crunchy element along with show stopping aesthetics.

Carrot and Walnut Cake with Walnut Brittle

• 250ml (9fl oz) sunflower oil
• 4 large eggs
• 225g (8oz) light muscovado sugar
• 200g (7oz) carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
• 300g (10oz) self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 100g (2½ oz) walnuts, shelled and chopped

For the icing

• 50g (1¾ oz) butter (room temperature)
• 25g (scant 1oz) icing sugar
• 250g (9oz) full-fat cream cheese (room temperature)
• a few drops of vanilla extract
• For the brittle
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 25g walnuts, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C/350°F/Gas 4). Grease two deep 20cm (8in) round sandwich tins and line the bases of the cake tins with baking parchment.

Put the oil, eggs and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until the mixture is well combined, lighter and noticeably thickened. 

Gently fold the carrot into the cake batter, then stir in the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, ginger and chopped walnuts until evenly blended.

Put the cakes in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until golden brown, risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing,measure the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and vanilla extract into a bowl and whisk using a hand or electric whisk until smooth and thoroughly blended.

To make the brittle, heat the sugar in a dry frying pan and DO NOT STIR! When it is golden brown chuck in the walnuts and take off the heat. Pour onto baking paper and spread out. Once cooled, break into chunks.

Spread 3/4 of the icing on one cake, sit the other cake on top and spread the remaining icing on top then cover with the walnut brittle.