Serious cake damage-control

I promised my year 12 class at the start of the year that they could request their favourite cake for their birthdays and I would bake it for them. I know, I know. Stupid, right? It was a heat-of-the-moment, snap decision, but at least it has resulted in me being able to test out some interesting cakes (see Black Forest cake) that I would have never considered baking before.

So I have finally come to baking my final cake and, of course, another cake I've never made before - Carrot cake. I know from previous eating experiences that Carrot cake can be a bit hit-and-miss. Too dry, too moist, too much carrot, not enough carrot, too "healthy" tasting, the list goes on. So the troll was on to find the perfect cake. I thought I had found one. Now, I don't like to brag, and I'm not trying to say that I'm Australia's next Masterchef - I definitely make my share of not quite there meals - but I don't get it horribly wrong all that often. But alas, my tired state at 9.30pm last night left my cake lacking. A lot. Hence, "serious cake damage-control".

Firstly, I bought light cream cheese. Don't ask me why I bothered with this, considering the amount of sugar and oil, but trust me, I've learnt my lesson. Thin, runny cream cheese icing is not that pleasant. It's also not that easy to work with, as you'll soon read.

I try not to skewer my cakes when baking, I more just go for the bounce-back feel and then take the cake out. This leads me to problem number two. I mustn't have been paying too much attention when I took one of the cakes out of the oven. I left them to cool on a wire rack over night, only to wake up this morning and find that one cake had sunken a little, and was a little too 'moist' (read: undercooked) in the middle. First stage of damage control - try to cook that bit! I turned on the grill first, but then reconsidered that when I realised it would crisp up the top of the cake as well. Time to try the oven. Luckily, this worked and the 'moist' bit cooked itself nicely.

Problem number three came in the form of trying to ice a still warm cake. I was short on time this morning before school (yes, I know, time management...) so didn't really have time to ice a completely cool cake after damage control number two. This, combined with the far too runny icing made for the worst iced cake I have ever seen!! Before I made it too much worse, I chucked in the fridge for damage control number three, just before serving. I re-iced and decorated with walnuts to hide the flaws. And voila...

Damage Control Carrot Cake (serves 10-12)
2 cups self raising flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice (or ground nutmeg)
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups finely grated carrot (about 2 large carrots)
1 cup (125g) crumbled walnuts

1 pack cream cheese (NOT LIGHT!!), softened
1/2 cup salted butter, softened (I didn't add this mine, but would definitely do it next time.

Up to 4 cups icing sugar
Extra walnut halves to decorate

1. Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line 2 20cm pans. 

2. Whisk together flour, cinnamon and mixed spice in a small bowl. In a large bowl mix eggs, oil, vanilla and brown sugar using an electric mixer. Slowly stir in dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Stir in carrots and walnuts. 

3. Divide mixture evenly into prepared cake pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (or cake springs back). Cool for 5 minutes in tins and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

4. Using a hand mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add icing sugar, half a cup at a time, until light, fluffy and thick. Spread on bottom layer of cake. Top with second cake and ice completely. Top with walnut halves to decorate. 

So, was my hard work and damage control rewarded with a resounding "WOW" from the year 12's? Well, no actually. The girl whose birthday it was actually truanted my class so she never even got to taste it!!! My faculty was pretty chuffed about it though...

Enjoy!

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