A rather pleasing carrot cake with lime mascarpone Icing

Tangy and fragrance, this is not a usual carrot cake. Again this is from my dear chef:  ............... the recipe came form .................. I have to admit that I doubted the recipe at first but the cake came out great, the tangy taste is a good contrast to the sweetness of the simple carrot cake. Anyway, I add the candied orange instead of the orange zest because I really like the sweet taste of it than the zest of the orange, but you can use only a zest from 1 of the orange instead of it, if you want.

Note: If your icing gets thin after mixing put it in the refrigerator before using (it will be firmer).

A rather pleasing carrot cake with lime mascarpone Icing

Serves 8-10

for the cake
285g/ 10oz	unsalted butter, softened
285g/ 10oz	light brown soft sugar
5 large	free-range or organic eggs, separated
	juice of 1 orange
170g/6oz	self-raising flour, sifted
1 slightly heaped teaspoon	baking powder
115g/4oz	ground almonds
115g/4oz	shelled walnuts, chopped, plus a handful for serving
1 heaped teaspoon	ground cinnamon
	a pinch of ground cloves
	a pinch of ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon	ground ginger
60 g	candied orange (chopped)
285g/ 10 oz	carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
	sea salt
for the lime mascarpone icing
115g/4oz	mascarpone cheese
225g/8oz	full-fat cream cheese
85g/3oz	icing sugar, sifted
	zest and juice of 2 limes

Note: I use 2-16X16 cm square pans, if you want to use the same size as me reduce the baking time to 35-40 minutes.

Sift together self-raising flour and baking powder, set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350° F/gas 4. Grease and line a 22cm/9 inch square cake tin or a round equivalent with greaseproof paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food processor until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one by one, and add the grated carrot. Stir in ½ of the sifted flour and baking powder.

Add the orange juice and the rest of the flour mixture, and add the ground almonds, walnuts, candied orange, spices and mix together well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then gently fold them into the cake mix.

Scoop the mixture into the prepared cake tin and cook in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes until golden and risen. You can check to see if the cake is cooked by poking a cocktail stick into it. Remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes out clean the cake is cooked; if slightly sticky it needs a bit longer, so put it back in the oven. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a rack and leave for at least an hour.

Mix all the icing ingredients together and spread generously over the top of the cake. Finish off with a sprinkling of chopped walnuts.