Carrot Cake (Halloween Pumpkin Edition)

As most of my recipes go - I got it from my momma! This is my mom's carrot cake recipe. It's a bit labour-intensive (as is every carrot cake) - coz there's so many ingredients to prepare, but it's totally worth it. 

This recipe is so versatile and can be made into a cake or cupcakes. I usually make them into cupcakes coz cupcakes are always better. But for this Halloween addition, I used 2 Bundt trays and turned the cake into a pumpkin! (as seen on Pinterest obviously!)


Oven: 180'C
Prep time: 30 minutes
Baking time: depends on what size tray you use
                     Cupcakes - 15 minutes (makes about 50)
                     2 standard round baking trays - 1 hour 30 minutes
                     2 bundt trays - 1 hour           
          

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups cooking oil
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups cake flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 teaspoons fine cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons fine nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons fine ginger
• Pinch of salt
• 5-6 large carrots - grated
• 4 very ripe bananas - mashed
• 1 packet walnuts
• 250g mixed raisins and sultanas
• 1 tin crushed pineapple

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 180'C.
2. Prepare everything first. Grate the carrots - I do it in my mini food processor (coz I'm lazy like that). Mash the bananas. Roughly chop the walnuts. Or alternatively bash the packet of walnuts with a rolling pin (it's a great stress reliever!) - but don't forget to cut a tiny whole in the corner of the packet to let out air. Mix the raisins/sultanas and nuts together with 1/2 cup of flour (this will prevent it from sinking to the bottom of the cake when it bakes)
3. Using a mixer, cream together the sugar, oil and eggs (added one by one).
4. Sift in the flour (the remaining 2.5 cups), baking power, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Mix it through with the mixer.
5. Lastly add the carrots, bananas, walnuts, raisins/sultanas and pineapple. Mix it through by hand (use a wooden spoon or colourful spatula). 
6. If you're making a cake - spray the baking tin liberally with oil spray. I find that oil spray is enough to prevent the cake from sticking to a silicone tin but if you're using a metal cake tin, rather line the bottom with baking paper to prevent sticking. This cake bakes really long coz its so moist. Bake it for about 1 hour 30 minutes. I check it at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes (coz I'm always so paranoid I'm gonna bake it too dry). Every oven is different, so I would recommend checking at least after one hour. You can always bake it longer if necessary. To check the cake: use a cake tester or just a tooth pick - poke it into the cake, if it comes back clean - the cake is done. 
7. If you're making cupcakes - I use 1 ice-cream scoop of batter per cupcake. Bake it for about 15 minutes. Check it at 10 minutes.  
8. To make a "pumpkin" - you just turn the 2 bundt cakes on top of each other.  

Cream cheese frosting:

• 60g butter/baking margarine
• 2 tubs smooth cream cheese
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• Few drops of lemon juice (optional)

1. Use room temperature butter. 
2. Mix the butter and cream together. 
3. Sift in the icing sugar (one cup at a time) and mix it through. 
4. Add the vanilla essence. 
5. You can add a few drops of lemon juice depending on how sour you want the frosting to be. 
6. If the frosting is too runny, leave it in the fridge to stiffen a bit (or freezer - but then check on it regularly).
7. I usually use it as is and pour it over the cake (and pipe it onto the cupcakes). To garnish: sprinkle with some finely chopped walnuts and glitter (of course!)
8. For the pumpkin, I added orange food colouring. And made the stem and leaves from store-bought fondant.