Carrot cake

Ideal with coffee, light and fragrant cake.

Ingredients:

·         200g  self-raising whole meal flour

·         100g  plain flour

·         350g  caster sugar

·         2 table spoons of  cinnamon

·         2 table spoons of  bicarbonate of soda

·         250ml  of butter

·         3 large carrots, peeled and grated

·         4 eggs, medium

Topping:

·         2 lemons, grated

·         250g  icing sugar

·         Icing with green and orange food color

Preparation:

Mix together all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Mix in carrot and gradually beat in butter and eggs. Pour into a greased and bottom lined bread / cake tin.

Bake in preheated oven 180°C, 160°C fan- gas mark 4 for 45–55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Prepare topping by mixing sugar and lemon juice. Make carrot decoration from icing.

Elephant

This was my sister’s birthday cake. She did not want anything too big and she always liked Elephants. The flavors I know she likes were nuts and cinnamon so that is what I used.

Bake two sponges:

200g of sugar

200g of self-rising flour

200g of butter

1 table spoon of baking soda

3 table spoon of water (I used strawberry compote juice)

1 tea spoon of cinnamon

                        3 table spoons of crushed walnuts (or other nuts like almonds or hazel nut)

                        Gas mark 4 up to 40 minutes in bread tin.

Also

                        Ready to roll icing – white

Food coloring – black, green, yellow, red and orange (for flowers but optional, you can do flowers of one color)

Butter cream (75g of butter + 175g of icing sugar +2 table spoon of milk and 1 tea spoons of vanilla essence + lemon zest)

Glue sponges together with butter cream and cut simple 3D body and head of an elephant. Color icing until grey and cover the body. Use leftover icing to make eye lids, ears, trunk and tale. Use white icing to make small square cushion, eyes and tasks.  Make some flowers from colored icing to place behind the elephant ears and around the nose / trunk to make elephant look as he is holding a flower bouquet for a birthday girl. I had a gold color pen for food so I draw some motive on the top of white cushion.  I finished the cake with coloring the butter-cream green and covering cake tray so it looks like an elephant is standing in tall grass. Also I dusted elephant with glitters .

It was very tasty.