Incredibly Moist Carrot Cake

Ingredients
For the Carrot Cake -
500 ml (2 cups) cake flour
10 ml (2 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
8 ml (1 1/2 tsp) ground cinnamon
300 ml vegetable oil
250 ml (1 cup) white sugar
250 ml (1 cup) lightly packed brown sugar
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
4 large eggs
300g (3 cups) grated peeled carrots- (5 to 6 medium carrots)
100g (1 cup) coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
125 ml (1/2 cup) raisins - optional

For the Cream Cheese Icing -
250g cream cheese - at room temperature
1 1/4 cups icing sugar
80 ml (1/3 cup) cream
125 ml (1/2 cup) coarsely chopped pecans/walnuts - to top cake

Method
Preheat the oven to 180º C.
Grease two 22 cm x 5 cm cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper then grease the top of the paper.
Or, grease and flour the bottom and sides of both pans.

Prepare Cake Batter -
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and the cinnamon until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, sugars and vanilla.

Whisk in eggs, one at a time.

Switch to a large rubber spatula.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, stirring gently until they disappear and the batter is smooth.

Stir in the carrots, nuts and raisins, if using them.

Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans.

Bake until the tops of the cake layers are springy when touched and when a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean; 35 to 45 minutes.

Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes then turn out onto cooling racks, peel off parchment paper and cool completely.

Make Cream Cheese Icing -
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with a handheld mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute.

Beat in the icing sugar, a 1/4 cup at a time until fluffy.
Pour in cream and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

Chill covered until ready to ice cake.

Ice Cake -
When the cake layers are completely cool, ice the top of one cake layer, place the other cake layer on top.
Decoratively swirl the top of the cake with remaining  icing leaving the sides uniced.
Scatter nuts on top.

Preparing the Cake Pans: Even though it is a bit time consuming, don't skimp on prepping the pans. It's never fun to find your cake layer is stuck to the bottom of your pan. (If this does happen to you, leave the cake pan upside down and allow gravity to do its thing).

How to Make Carrot Cake Cupcakes:
For cupcakes, we'd recommend baking for 14 to 18 minutes (or until a tester inserted into the centre of one comes out clean).
Then let them cool for a few minutes in the cupcake pan before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Yield: 1 x 22 cm double layer cake or 24 cupcakes