This week's recipe

For the Cake: 

• Beat 4 medium eggs in a large bowl until frothy
• Add 250g light brown sugar and beat until thick and pale
• Next add in 250g vegetable oil and beat until it looks a little like mayonnaise
• Mix in one tbsp of quatre epices (clove, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon), finely grated zest of one orange and a dash of vanilla
• Sift 450g flour and 2 tsp baking powder together and mix in thoroughly
• Grate 3 to 4 carrots into the bowl along with 2 handfuls of raisins and a handful of walnuts
• Mix in 100ml orange juice to thin batter a little
• Mix together with a spoon to incorporate
• Transfer to a spring form tin lined with a cartouche (round piece of paper to line the bottom)
• Bake at 170°c for around an hour, until a skewer inserted to the middle of the cake comes out clean (the time will all depend on the size of your tin, the moisture in the flour, the oven you are using etc... so it is best to know when a cake is done rather than just cooking it according to a recipe)

For the frosting: 

• Beat philli cream cheese with a splash of orange oil and a little vanilla

To make your own orange oil keep all the peel of your oranges and place in a pan with enough oil to cover (a small tall pan is best), gently heat on lowest setting for a few hours agitating it every so often to help release the oils.. Then cover and leave over night. the more orange you can get in the pan the better, the heat is to burst the little pockets of orange oil in the zest.

• Add powdered sugar to taste, I used roughly 300g philli and 4 tbsp suger

For the crispy carrot topping:  

•  Using a Japanese mandolin with the finest julienne blade slice the carrots and pat dry with kitchen towel

• Fry in vegetable oil in batches (medium/hot heat), you'll know when they are ready as the sound sizzling sounds will stop because the water has evaporated

To decorate: 

• When the cake has cooled place on serving plate, remembering to remove the paper cartouche from the bottom

• Spread or pipe the cream cheese icing as you like

• Taking handfuls of broken walnuts, push against the iced sides of the cake so the nuts stick

• Top with the crispy carrots

Note; the crispy carrots will moisten if the cake is cling filmed, this is still nice but not as impressive as a little added crunch on top.