carrot cake with lime mascarone

so its fathers' day and i decided to make an attempt at the americanized carrot cake, but there were slight hiccups ): i didnt have walnut, which i think is an essential condiment in carrot cakes. also, i didnt notice that the baking time was 1 hr so we kept opening the oven to check and hence the top was slightly burnt.


carrot cake! serves 8-10


1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 cups light-brown sugar
5 large eggs, separated
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 slightly heaped teaspoon baking powder
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup ground almonds
4 ounces shelled walnuts, chopped, plus more for garnish
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour, sifted
10 ounces carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
Sea salt
4 ounces mascarpone cheese
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 scant cup confectioners' sugar, sifted (felt that this could be reduced cause the icing turned out pretty sweet)
Zest and juice of two limes


1) Preheat oven to 180 deg celcius. Butter a 9-by-2-inch square baking pan and line with parchment paper. Set aside.

2) In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, pulsing after each addition. Add orange zest and juice; pulse to combine. Add baking powder; pulse to combine. Add cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger; pulse until mixture is well combined.

3) In a large bowl whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Gently fold in almonds, walnuts, flour, and carrots; fold cake mixture into egg white mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cake cool in the pan 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4) In a medium bowl, mix together mascarpone, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and lime zest and juice. Spread mixture over top of cooled cake and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.


recipe off martha stewart's fathers' day special

Basic Scones

Ingredients (makes 16)

• plain flour, for dusting
• 3 cups self-raising flour
• 80g butter, cubed
• 1 table spoon of casted sugar
  
• 1 to 1 1/4 cups milk
• jam and whipped cream, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly dust a flat baking tray with plain flour. Sift self-raising flour into a large bowl.
2. Using your fingertips, rub butter into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Make a well in the centre. Add casted sugar and 1 cup of milk. Mix with a flat-bladed knife until mixture forms a soft dough, adding more milk if required. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth (don't knead dough too much or scones will be tough).
4. Pat dough into a 2cm-thick round. Using a 5cm (diameter) round cutter, cut out 12 rounds. Press dough together and cut out remaining 4 rounds. Place scones onto prepared baking tray, 1cm apart. Sprinkle tops with a little plain flour. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and well risen. Transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm with jam and cream.

Recipe from taste.com.au