Fun Carrot Cake Decoration

This is such a fun Easter idea and works with any round cake, whether it’s homemade or store-bought. You can also use any frosting you already have on hand, but a cream cheese frosting works beautifully with carrot cake.

Ingredients

Carrot Cake

250 ml sunflower oil
4 large eggs
150 g light muscovado sugar
75 g caster sugar
250 g carrots, coarsely grated
300 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp fine sea salt
100 g walnuts, toasted and chopped

Cream Cheese Frosting

120 g unsalted butter, very soft
200 g full-fat cream cheese (block style, not spreadable)
300 g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp fine salt

Decoration

Green food colouring
Orange food colouring
Lolly pop sticks

Method

Preheat your oven to 170°C fan (180°C conventional). Grease and line a round cake tin.

In a large bowl whisk together the oil, eggs, muscovado sugar and caster sugar until smooth and slightly thickened.

Add the grated carrots and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.

Fold through the chopped walnuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top.

Bake for 40–50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Cut your cooled cake into even slices or segments and place each slice on a flat surface ready for decorating. (You can use this homemade cake, a store-bought cake, or even another flavour entirely — this decoration works with anything.)

In a bowl, beat the butter for 2–3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth, then add the remaining icing sugar and mix again until creamy. Add the cream cheese straight from the fridge and beat briefly until smooth. Do not overmix or the frosting will loosen. Stir through the vanilla and salt.

Divide the frosting into two portions. Colour one orange and the other green using food colouring.

Using the orange frosting, pipe over each cake slice to create the shape of a carrot. You can keep it smooth or add light texture with small strokes.

Gently push a lolly pop stick into the top of each slice to act as the carrot stem.

Using the green frosting, pipe small leafy tops around the stick to create the full carrot effect.

Elliot’s Tips

• This works just as well with store-bought cake if you want a quick version.

• You can swap the frosting for any buttercream or icing you already have.

• Chill the frosting slightly if it feels too soft, this helps with clean piping.

• Line the finished slices up together to create a full “carrot patch” effect for serving.