Carrot and Apple Cake

It was my mum’s birthday the other week and as tradition dictates I always make some form of carrot cake for her.
Over the years I have made carrot fondant fancies, carrot cake meringue pie, carrot loaf, carrot cake Swiss roll. So what could I come up with this year?

Well, as I said recently, our new home has two apple trees in the back garden and they are full of ripe apples at the moment. We are actually unsure which variety of apple they are, but they are definitely eating apples, as we often pick and eat.

I decided to use the apples in the carrot cake and I found a recipe online for carrot, apple and pecan cake which I knew mom would love.
I tweaked the recipe slightly which called for grated carrots, grated apples and chopped pecans in the batter of the cake. To decorate, I made a cream cheese frosting which is traditional with carrot cake, and I also stewed some apples from the trees. This sweetened, stewed apple mix I spread over the cream cheese in the middle when cooled and it oozed out a little, looking just like caramel.

I always think what makes a good carrot cake is a good mix of spices and I combined cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to give that lovely autumnal warmth.
Mum loved the cake, and as she is being ‘good’ at the moment for an upcoming wedding she only had one slice, as did I and Disneyboi. Disneyboi took the rest to his work and they happily demolished the rest of it.
Here is the recipe, adapted from myrecipes.com
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Carrot and Apple Cakeby S Vettese September-19-2016Moist layer cake packed with grated apples carrots and pecans with cream cheese frosting and apple sauceIngredients

• 125 grams chopped pecans
• 200 grams plain flour
• 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 medium eggs
• 450 grams + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 180 ml vegetable oil
• 180 ml buttermilk
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 300 grams grated apples
• 75 grams grated carrot
• 165 grams full-fat cream cheese
• 45 grams unsalted butter, softened
• 450 grams icing sugar

InstructionsPreheat the oven to 180C and grease and line two 9 inch cake tins.In a bowl sift together the flour, bicarb, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.In another bowl beat together the eggs, 450 grams granulated sugar, oil, salt, one teaspoon of vanilla and buttermilk until smooth.Blend in the flour mix and finally stir through the carrots, 230 grams of apple and chopped pecans.Divide the batter between the two cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.Whilst letting the cakes cool fully, prepare the apple filling, by placing the remaining apples in a saucepan with the two tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of water. Stew over medium heat until the apples are soft and have become golden in color. Allow to cool fully.Make the cream cheese frosting by beating together the cream cheese, butter and one teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Add the icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated.Place one half of the cream cheese frosting on one layer of the cake and top with the stewed apple mix.Place the other cake layer on top and cover with the remaining cream cheese frosting.Scatter on some chopped pecan if desired.Refrigerate until ready to enjoy.DetailsPrep time: 45 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 1 hour 15 mins Yield: 1 9" cake