I love animals, I love my dog to the ends of the earth and pretty much any other animal I come in to contact with. I’m one of those saps that watches Paul O’Grady For the Love of Dogs with tears in my eyes, proclaiming ”I just want to bring them all home and love them and care for them.” You know this, because you’ve probably been there too. That’s why you are reading this post about the RSPCA Cake Off Challenge. Great, I’m glad we have some common ground. I was asked to bake a cake. As wife to a Farmers Son you probably have the image that for most of the day I’m holed up in the kitchen baking cookies and creating mammoth cakes every day, well quite the contraire. By day I work in digital experiences for Events so you could not be further from the truth. So when I was asked to do it I was like ”Yeah sure, I’ll do my best.” Secretly I thought ”Oh Crap!” but ever one to turn down a challenge I was ready to go full steam ahead!
My chosen cake of poison was to be my favourite, Carrot (& not so much ginger) Cake. Fresh from the Hummingbird Bakery recipe book (see, even the recipe is animal related!) I was ready to set going. Now I’m no Mary Berry & my rivals in the #RSPieceofCAkeoff challenge Kel & Amanda have definitely surpassed expectations and really outdone me here. But, I hope I get points for trying. So let’s get to the nitty gritty, what do we actually need to create a lopsided, home made with love Carrot Cake then?
Cake Mixture
450g peeled and finely grated carrots
2 tbsp peeled and grated root ginger (I missed this out and added extra cinnamon)
80ml buttermilk (but we used semi-skimmed milk)
3 large eggs (I scrambled 2 eggs in a bowl and used approx. 3/4 of the mixture)
1 tsp vanilla essence
350 ml vegetable oil
450g caster sugar
500g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
40g pecans, roasted and chopped (optional)
For the frosting
420g icing sugar, sifted
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g cream cheese, cold
My baking skills leave a lot to be desired, and in actual fat Mr C helped an awful lot. Hey, what’s a girl to do when her arm is tired from all the stirring and whisking? To create this cake, ideally you need someone who you can ask to help and do it all for you (which I very nearly did!) or you can follow these simple instructions! Grate the carrots, then mix with buttermilk, eggs, oil and cinnamon. (I suggest using an electric mixer or hand held mixer) in another bowl mix your flour, sugar, baking power, bicarbonate salt, ginger(or extra cinnamon) and your pecans. Once both are done, slowly pour in the wet mixture and fold with the dry mixture to create your cake mixture. Once done, pop in the oven for 30 minutes on 180 degrees celcius. Sit back and relax. Once it’s cooked, leave to stand and once it is cool you can prepare your frosting, fold the icing sugar, butter and cream cheese and then start whisking . Cover your cake with it and delicately place a few spare pecans on top for that extra crunch.
I of course had to choose a carrot cake, because carrots are what rabbits eat and at one point in my younger years I had 13 rabbits! This is in ode to them, especially Thumper the one we rescued, he had 3 legs and a missing nose! All in all, I raised £15 from the office and from my family – it’s not a huge amount but it’s a small token than will be greatly appreciated by the RSPCA. If you’d like to raise money for the RSPCA you can get plenty of ideas from their fundraising page from silly dress up days or completing challenges with a friend, its easy to get involved. Alternatively, if you’d like to donate directly then please click here!
Please do let me know if you donate! Or if you try make this delicious cake get in touch! I’d love to hear from you.
Bee xxx
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