Easter Carrot Cake

     Easter's coming, and that's exciting.  I love cooking for Easter.  It's different than cooking for Christmas, to be sure.  I would say there's less pressure, less expectation, than cooking for Christmas.  There are, of course, solid culinary traditions associated with Easter - fish on Good Friday, lamb on Easter Sunday, hot cross buns, Simnel cake, and so forth.  But I feel there is also more scope for experimentation. 
     Last year my daughter Georgiana was baptized on Good Friday, and I found myself catering for about 40 people after the event.  As I tried to think of the perfect Easter-type buffet, I was drawn to all sorts of foods - foods made with ingredients that represent Spring, foods made with fish, and foods with a middle-eastern bent - olives, almonds, dates, figs, apricots, vine leaves, goat's cheese, etc. - in memory of the life and death of Jesus Christ.  Here's a pictures of the buffet, just for fun:

     But surely, standard fare at Easter time is the carrot cake.  Georgiana's birthday is in March, and every year her birthday cake is a carrot cake. 
     I find there is something inherently interesting about carrot cake.  To my mind, it stands somewhere between a sponge cake and a fruit cake, and the possibilities are vast.  This year, I deviated from my normal carrot cake recipe and tried some different ingredients - I swapped butter for the oil, added some ground almonds, walnuts, and dried fruit.  Take a look:

Easter Carrot Cake

250 grams flour
50 grams ground almonds
1/2 tsp. mixed spice
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
250 grams butter
225 grams sugar
5 medium eggs
350 grams grated carrots
65 grams raisins
65 grams sultanas
50 grams walnuts
Juice of 1/2 orange
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon

For icing:
Apricot jam
Cream cheese frosting.

First, in a small bowl, combine the raisins, sultanas and zest with the orange and lemon juice.  Let the fruit soak for about 20 minutes.

Grease and line two round 9-inch cake pans.  Make sure the sides of the pan are rather high. 

In a large bowl, combine the flour, ground almonds, spices, baking powder, and baking soda.  In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture by the spoonful, stirring gently after each one.  When the mixtures are combined, stir in the carrots, walnuts, and the soaked dried fruit with the juices and zest. 

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.  Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes.  A skewer should come out clean when they are done.

Let the cake cool completely.  When ready to ice, spread about 3 or 4 tablespoons of apricot jam over the surface of one of the cakes.  Frost the surface of the other cake with cream cheese frosting.  Gently bring these two surfaces together to make a sandwich.  Then frost the rest of the cake with the cream cheese frosting.

Decorate as you see fit for Easter.  I can never resist doing something like this: