for cake
2 large or 4 small carrots grated
200 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
200 grams light brown sugar
3 eggs
100 grams walnuts finely chopped
50 grams golden raisins chopped
half a knob of ginger grated or 1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon cardamon
200 mls vegetable oil

for icing
200 grams cream cheese at room temperature
50 grams soft butter
100 grams icing sugar
rind of one orange
half an orange juiced

For the cake
Heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius with circulating air, 180 makes the cake more crunchy, but if you want a moist cake 175 worked well for me
mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and then fold through the carrots,raisins and walnuts. With the ginger I hold the grated ginger in my palm and squeeze out the juices and discard the grated ginger or you can use ground ginger, crystallised ginger is also good
place in a greased 20 cm cake tin or whatever you’re using, just keep in mind that the cake rises
cook for about 45 minutes
let the cake cool down before icing, I recommend leaving it to cool in the cake tin so it retains any moisture

For the icing
I used a kitchen aid for this but you can always use handheld beaters
whip butter slowly so its a pale, soft mixture (about 2 minutes) then slowly add the sugar while whipping
add the cream cheese when the butter and sugar are combined, then add the orange rind and orange juice
if the icing is too soft you may need a bit more icing sugar but this should make a soft icing that doesn’t drip down the cake
I store it in the fridge while the cake is cooling down and take it out just before I put theicingon the cake
I garnished with chopped walnuts, but that only because I chopped too many at the beginning, the cake is fine just as it is!

Notes
This recipe is a fruity cake base with chai inspired spices. I don’t think the original carrot cake contains ginger but with the spices gives it a warmness, I don’t know how to describe it, but you’ll just have to try it for yourself
I was always a fan of the cream cheese frosting on carrot cake so I kept that but added orange and a little butter cream. This is a perfect amount to have with the cake, plus a little extra if someone else is in the kitchen and wants to steal some frosting