It was my 26th birthday earlier this month. I've been pretending it wasn't happening for the past year. I was quite happy being 25 forever. I just prefer being "closer to 20" rather than "on my way to 30" as I am now.
But I've gotten over it now I guess. It's just a number and I'm in the best shape and fitness of my life, so really 26 is already pretty good! Plus birthdays always mean one thing. Cake. That I get to choose AND bake myself.


Now normally I'm likely to choose a flourless chocolate cake; dark chocolate, butter, eggs & sugar. Simple and rich. But I just had a hankering for a big fat carrot cake. I looked at a lot of recipes in my cook books and online. I kept going back to one recipe though. From the master himself, Jamie Oliver. As per normal I have modified his recipe...but not too much, just to tweak it a little for my nutrition preferences and tastes.

Like most modification, the first thing I changed was the sugar. I used raw sugar and some maple syrup rather than brown sugar. I also added extra carrots because you can't have enough in carrot cake as far as I'm concerned.


For the frosting, Jamie just used mascarpone cheese with lime. Limes are not in season right now, so I substituted lemon and swapped most of the mascarpone for goats cheese. I avoid dairy generally but can tolerate goats cheese, so this made my tummy much happier.


The goats cheese lends a beautifully tart, tangy flavour to the frosting. I think next time I would even use all goats cheese, but I didn't want to risk ruining the recipe so stuck with some mascarpone too.


In fact the frosting was so delicious and gave such a great flavour to the whole cake that John even said that it was like eating a combination of carrot cake and cheese cake at the same time. I very much agree.


I snuck in some coconut on a whim. A nice addition if I do say so myself.


And I added macadamias as well. And I think I added extras walnuts too. I like a nutty carrot cake.


I removed almost half of the flour and used wholemeal. I avoid wheat so again this worked best for me. The crumb was still light and super moist. I would like to have used spelt or buckwheat flour, but I didn't have any in the pantry.


I always add extra spices, I adore cinnamon and ginger and all the warm flavours they bring. So good with that tangy cheese frosting. You have to have the double layers too, the extra layer of frosting is definitely needed!

The cake was very well received by everyone who tried it. John brought some with him to tennis on Sunday, and bizarrely carrot cake was just what his tennis friend was craving that day! I admit I may have eaten two pieces...it was my birthday so I'm allowed!

Without further ado, I bring you my birthday cake, lovingly adapted from Jamie Oliver.



Carrot Cake with Chevre & Mascarpone Frosting
(original recipe here)

Ingredients
250g organic buttter
200g raw sugar
50ml maple syrup
5 large organic eggs
Zest & juice of 1 orange
100g wholemeal flour
100g almond meal
70g walnuts, chopped (plus extra for top of cake)
70g macadamias, chopped (plus extra for top of cake)
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1 heaped tsp cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground giner
300g grated carrots
pinch sea salt

Frosting
150g meredith dairy chevre
100g mascarpone
60g icing sugar
Zest & juice of 1 lemon

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line 2 x 22cm round cake tin with greaseproof paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food processor until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one by one, and add the maple syrup, orange zest and juice.

Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder, and add the almond meal, walnuts, macadamias, spices and grated carrot and mix together well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then gently fold them into the cake mix. Scoop the mixture into the prepared cake tin and cook in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes until golden and risen.

You can check to see if the cake is cooked by poking a cocktail stick into it. Remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes out clean the cake is cooked; if slightly sticky, it needs a bit longer, so put it back in the oven.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a rack and rest for at least an hour.

Mix all the icing ingredients together and spread a little less than half over the 1st layer and sprinkle with coconut if you wish. Then generously spread the rest over the top of the cake. Finish off with a sprinkling of chopped walnuts and macadamias.