It’s a great carrot cake

Jacqui Campbell's famous carrot cake. 117917 Pictures: DANNY BUTTLER

By DANIELLE GALVIN

THE secret to a delicious carrot cake is staying patient during the grating process and the perfect lemon frosting.
This week, the Gazette is running the first recipe for the monthly Country Living feature.
The Gazette’s own Jacqui Campbell is famous for her in-house award winning carrot cake and shared her recipe with readers for the first feature.
“It is a family favourite,” she said.
While Jacqui’s not sure where the recipe originated or where she learnt the secret, she reluctantly admits that she’s “probably known for it” and the carrot cake recipe is often a crowd favourite.
She’s often asked to bake up a carrot cake for special occasions, for her church and probably plenty of times for no reason at all except a craving for a country classic.
The carrot cake takes about 50 minutes all up to make, including roughly 40 minutes of baking time.
Jacqui said it’s an easy cake to bake, it’s just the carrots that take a while to grate.
Last year, Jacqui was crowned as the Gazette’s Bake-Off champion for the My Star Cake Rocks.
“I’ll be defending my title this year,” she joked.
The Gazette wants to hear from you if you have a favourite recipe or signature dish passed down through generations that you’d like to share with the community.
Contact Danielle Galvin on 5945 0666 or danielle.galvin@starnewsgroup.com.au to share your story with the Gazette.

RECIPE

Jacqui’s Carrot Cake

Ingredients
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tea spoon of bi carb soda
1 tea spoon vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour (sifted)
1 tea spoon mixed spice
A pinch of salt
2 cups of carrot finely grated
3/4 cup sultanas
1 cup walnuts unchopped

Method
1. Combine eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla essence and sifted dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Beat well with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth.
3. Stir in sultanas, grated carrot and walnuts, mix well.
4. Pour into a well-greased tin and bake in a moderate pre-heated oven 160 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Lemon frosted icing
100g Philadelphia cream cheese and 30g of butter
Grated lemon rind from 1 lemon and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 1/2 – 2 cups of sifted icing sugar (add more if icing is too runny)
Mix all ingredients together with an electric beater and spread on cake when cold