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.

Tag for the first time

This is the first time that someone tagged me, Colette from Colette's Bakery tags me, and I know it was so late to post it. Anyway , here my answers and the people whom I tag.

For anyone who has been tagged you this is the rules:

Each participant answers questions about himself or herself. At the end of the post the participant tags 5 people. Their names are posted letting them know they’ve been tagged. They then have to read the participant’s blog. The tagged let’s the tagger know when he’s posted his answers.

The questions are:

What was I doing ten years ago?
I just graduated and moving back to live with my family again.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
1. Go to the temple

2. Bake cookies for my sister.

3. Try to read a book that I bought about a year ago.

4. Post my cake on this blog.

5. Reply all the e-mail which I receive (ok it’s a lot).

Snacks I enjoy:

1. Dried fruit, cranberry, raisin, fig, etc (do I have to say it all.)
2. Apples
3. Oreos
4. Roasted nut
5. Lays (in fact I like Walker crisps from Britain more than Lays but I can’t find it here).

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Travel around the world (Yes, I really want to)
2. Built new house with a huge kitchen
3. Buy all the gadgets to use in my kitchen
4. Buy all the cookbooks which I want
5. I will fill this one when I really become a billionaire

Places I have lived:
1. I moved for 3-4 times in my life, I did want to talk about it anyway.

Jobs I have had: (paid jobs?)
1. Baking for my brother’s seminars.

I start to know now that I don’t work much (after I read this question). Haha.

And the people I tag are ( sorry I can find only 4):

bake-aholic

pepsakoy

vanillaorchid

beansproutscafe

CHOCOLATE AND LEMON MACARONS OR MACAROONS

Name can be confusing, but the look is different. I have to admit that I just start making Macarons for a week, and it’s quite fun to make. I have learned the key to make this little French cookie from my friend Kam (its_gemmi) and Jeab (J-Nap) (both of them are in Thai language). They really help me with their clear picture and instruction, and Voilà, I can make it too.

My First Macarons

My first macarons is a surprise for me, I can make it and feel so much thankful for both of then, but I find the macorons are too sweet for me. So, now I try to find different recipe, that will suitable for my taste. Then the recipe is coming (ok, I bought it) from Vogue Entertaining and Travel June/July Issue, what a good idea to have a tangy filling to balance with the sweet cookies. But I can’t help but make some adjustment here and there to suite my taste and ingredients on hand. And the result is a tangy and chocolate macaron which I hope you will like it too.

CHOCOLATE AND LEMON MACARONS OR MACAROONS

MAKES ABOUT 30 ‘SANDWICHES’

For the macarons
110 g	icing sugar
65 g	ground almonds (or sliced almond*)
13 g	Dutch cocoa
60 g	egg whites, at room temperature
20 g	caster sugar
	Pinch of cream of tartar
For lemon filling
120 g	Cream cheese
1 tbsp	lemon juice
2 tbsp	icing sugar
1 tbsp	Whipping cream
	Finely grated zest of 1 lemons

Sift icing sugar, almonds and cocoa through a fine sieve, pushing mixture through with a wooden spoon; this will help to make a smooth macaron.

* If using sliced almond: Place the almond, icing sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor and process until the mixture fine as flour (about 3-5 minutes). When the almonds are ground, using a wooden spoon, press the mixture through a medium strainer.

Using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar whisk to combine and caster sugar, a little at a time until using all, and whisk to firm soft peaks.

Stir in almond mixture; in three or four additions. When all the dry ingredients are incorporated; the mixture will look like a cake batter.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 5mm nozzle. Pipe or spoon mixture into 2.5cm rounds onto baking paper-lined (or Silpat) oven trays. When you’ve pipe out all the macarons lift each baking sheet with both hands and then bang it down on the counter (you need to get the air out of the batter).

Set aside for 1 hour. After 1 hour the top of the macarons will be dry, and ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 150°C. Bake for 15 minutes (baking time can be varied, from 10-15 up to your oven) or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool on trays. Slide a knife under each macaroon to release from paper. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or until ready to assemble.

For filling, sift the icing sugar and whisk icing sugar, zest, juice cream and cream cheese until combined.

Sandwich macarons with filling.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour for filling to firm.

Adaptation from: Vogue Entertaining and Travel June/July Issue