Moist Carrot Walnut Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Finally i made my first carrot walnut cake! I've been waiting to make this for a while now but didn't really have the time until today. I've had a packet of walnut sitting in my fridge for almost a few months now and i was so glad that i used up the whole pack. Surely didn't wanna leave anymore walnuts in my fridge, cause if i do , i have no idea when will i be able to use it again.

Ingredients

Carrot Walnut Cake

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 tsp salt

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

* 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

* 4 large eggs

* 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

* 1 cup canola oil

* 1/2 crushed pineapple

* 2 tsp vanilla extract

* 150g walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

* 360 g raw carrots, finely grated

Method:

1) Toast walnuts in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 180 degree C, let it cool and chop coarsely.

2) Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon powder in a bowl and set aside.

3) Beat the eggs for about 1-2 mins, until its frothy and gradually add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is light colored and thick, bout 4-5 mins. Add in the crushed pineapples.

4) Add in the oil in a consistent flow then pour in 2 tsp of vanilla extract.

5) Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

6) Fold in 3/4 of  the chopped walnuts and grated carrot.

7) Pour into a 9' square baking pan that's lined with a greaseproof paper and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 of the chopped walnuts on the top.

8) Let it cool and remove from the pan and if desire, you can either divide the cake into 1/2 or 1/4.

Note:

You can add in all the chopped walnuts into the batter, instead of sprinkling some on the top of the batter before baking it. I like my cake to have more texture especially when it involves nuts, that's why i set aside 1/4 of the walnuts to be sprinkled. You can also replace the walnuts with pecans.

Cool the whole cake and frost it with the cream cheese frosting or you can cut it into 4 pieces and assemble it to form a layered cake. If you layered it , then you'll have 2 layered carrot cakes that measure 4 1/2  by 4 1/2.

Since i've two mini carrot cakes, i decorated each of them differently. I covered one of it with finely chopped walnuts and the other only sprinkle it on the top.

For better tasting moist carrot cake, once its cooled, pop it into the fridge or you can just leave it at room temperature and only pop it into the fridge once you've done with the frosting. Leaving it in the fridge will ease your frosting session.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

* 250g cream cheese, room temperature

* 57g butter, room temperature

* 2 cups confectioner's sugar

* 1 tbsp lemon zest

* 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1) Leave both the cream cheese and butter at room temperature. Once its ready , add both in a bowl and mix it until just blended with no lumps.

2) Add in the sifted powdered sugar gradually and mix until fully incorporated and smooth.

3) Add in your vanilla extract and then your 1 tbsp of lemon zest.

4) When the cake has cooled, frost it with cream cheese and decorate it with toasted finely chopped walnuts or just plain cream cheese frosting.

Note:
I cut down the powdered sugar to 1 1/2 cups. Keep tasting the frosting from time to time when you make it so that you can have a better control of the sweetness of your frosting.