MUM’S CARROT CAKE WITH BURNT BUTTER & STEM GINGER & ROSEMARY MASCARPONE

SERVES 8-10 / PREPARATION 30 MINUTES / COOKING 40-50 MINUTES

CARROT CAKE

230g butter

200g soft brown sugar

4 eggs zest and juice of ¾ orange 135g self-raising flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 80g ground almonds 120g chopped walnuts 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 160g grated carrot

2 teaspoons salt

MASCARPONE

125g mascarpone

½ teaspoon vanilla paste

30-40g stem ginger, finely grated

1 heaped tablespoon finely chopped rosemary 20g icing sugar

75g cream, fridge cold

To make the burnt butter, put the butter into a saucepan and melt over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, and keep scraping the bottom of the pan to lift the caramelising milk solids. Once the butter is a nice brown colour and smells like toasted hazelnuts, pour it into a bowl and pop in the fridge. Heat the oven to 170℃.

Once the butter is set, cut it into small pieces. Use a mixer with a paddle attachment to cream the butter and sugar for 5-10 minutes on a medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time and then the orange zest and juice.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder. Mix in the ground almonds, walnuts, ginger, carrot and salt. Fold half the creamed mixture into the flour mixture, then add the second half. Keep as much air in the batter as possible to keep the cake lighter.

Line a 21cm-square cake tin with baking paper and put the batter into the tin, using a spatula to level it out.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until your cake skewer comes out clean. Remove the cake from the tin onto a wire rack and leave to cool for 15 minutes. Then turn the oven up to 215℃ and return the cake to the oven to caramelise; this will take about 5-10 minutes.

For the mascarpone, mix the mascarpone, vanilla, stem ginger and rosemary in a bowl and leave at room temperature. Whisk together the icing sugar and cream until you have soft peaks. Fold the mascarpone and cream together and put it into the fridge to set, which will take about 1-2 hours.

To serve, cut some cake and eat with a good spoonful of mascarpone cream.