New Years Eve Carrot Cake with Pistachio Buttercream Icing

Happy New Years Eve to everyone, I hope you all have a wonderful evening and have had a rather eventful 2014. Let's hope that next year will be even more incredible, I think the best thing about New Years is not knowing what the next holds and that the anticipation and suspense builds so much adrenalin, pushing you forward to make something of your life that you maybe would've been too lazy to do the previous year. Yes, it is awfully cliche to say, but it's a start of new beginnings and new decisions each one of them leading you down a different path; however the new years resolutions should not start simply because you feel like you have to make them because of that saying 'new year, new me', because if you felt so passionately about the change you wanted to make, you should start in this very moment. 

So I hope you all enjoy your new year and have a brilliant night, here's to 2015!

This light and fluffy carrot cake would be perfect for a New Years Eve party or gathering that you may be holding or just to enjoy if you're spending it alone watching tv. 

On to the Recipe: 

Ingredients 

Cake - 

450ml vegetable oil

400g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

250g caster sugar

250g brown sugar

5 free-range eggs

½ tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

525g carrots, grated

Handful of mixed dried fruit and nuts

Icing-

250g icing sugar

125g butter/margarine

2 handfuls of pistachio nuts

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. 

2.Grease and line the three 8" circular tins 

3.Mix all of the ingredients for the carrot cake, except the carrots and dried fruit and nuts, together in a bowl until well combined. 

4.Stir in the carrots and dried fruit and nuts. 

5.Add the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes (or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.)

6. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

7.Carefully remove the cake from the tin and set aside to cool completely on a cooling rack.

8. Whilst cooling make the icing. Add the sieved icing sugar and margarine together until it is a pale colour. 

9. Assemble the cake. Using a thin layer of icing, stack the three cakes on top of each other (if the cakes are not flat at the top then using a serrated knife trim them so they lay straight.) 

10. Using a palette knife, smooth the icing over the top and sides of the top two cakes (I did not cover the bottom layer as I thought it would be too sickly if that was covered too). 

11. Crush the pistachio nuts using a pestle and mortar (or in a bowl with the bottom of a rolling pin) and sprinkle on the top of the cake, and over the sides until the cake is covered. 

There you have it, a simple yet delicious carrot cake with pistachio icing, perfect to indulge in whilst starting the New Year! Enjoy  xx