Recipe taken from Eric Lanlard’s Afternoon Tea by Eric Lanlard, published by Mitchell Beazley
Ingredients
- 200g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
- 125g toasted desiccated coconut
- 125g pecan nuts, roasted and ground, plus 100g roasted pecan halves, to decorate
- 50g ground almonds
- 50g rice flour
- 90g stevia granules
- pinch of salt
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra for dusting
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 300g grated carrots
- splash of milk, if needed
- For the frosting:
- 600g cream cheese
- 100g unsalted butter, softened
- 50g stevia granules
- pinch of ground cinnamon
- 2tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1tbsp milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 160C, gas 3. Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich cake tins and line with baking paper.
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients using a balloon whisk. In a jug, beat the eggs, melted butter and vanilla paste until combined, then fold in the grated carrots.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well, adding a splash of milk if the mixture is too thick.
Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake in the oven for 25–30 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out on to a cooling rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, beat all the ingredients together until creamy and fluffy. Secure one of the cooled cakes on your cake stand with a little of the frosting, then spread a good layer over the top of the cake and sandwich together with the second cake.
Using a palette knife, cover the cake completely with the remaining frosting. Decorate with the pecan halves and a light dusting of cinnamon.
