Spooky Lime & Lemongrass Carrot cake

Halloween is not too far away so it's time to start thinking about spooky themed food and drink if you're planning a Halloween party. In previous years on my blog I have featured Halloween Cupcakes, Mummy Sausage Rolls and Blood Thirsty Cocktails but this is the first time I've done a Halloween themed decorated cake. This cake will look fantastic as a centrepiece on your party table and not only does it look good, it is delicious too!

Ingredients (Serves 12)

For the cake
300g carrots, peeled
225ml sunflower oil
170g soft brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp Belvoir Lime & Lemongrass Cordial
zest of 2 limes
325g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

For the frosting
125g unsalted butter
125g icing sugar
50g full fat soft cheese
1tbsp Belvoir Lime & Lemongrass Cordial
orange food colouring
black writing icing
plastic spiders to decorate

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/Fan 165C. Lightly oil a 20cm deep cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.
- Coarsely grate the carrots.
- In a stand mixer or with an electric hand whisk, beat together the oil, sugar and eggs until they are light and fluffy - they need to be thick enough to leave a trail when the whisk heads are lifted.
- Add the carrots and remaining ingredients and mix well.
- Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 45-50 minutes.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack.
- While the cake is cooling, beat together all your ingredients for the frosting. Add enough food colouring to make it a bright orange.
- Once the cake is cool, cut in half horizontally. Spread half the icing in the middle of the cake and sandwich together. Spread the remainder over the top and smooth with a palette knife.
- Pipe the black icing over the cake to look like a spider’s web, then finish with plastic spiders or if you have time, make some out of black sugar paste icing.


Note: This recipe was supplied to me by Belvoir Fruit Farms