Norwegians like to have their cake and eat it too. The carrot cake may not be the Norwegianest of cakes, but Norwegians have embraced it as a way of pigging out and eating healthy at the same time. So much that the carrot cake has dethroned the good old chocolate cake as the standard of any social gathering. (L-Jay was a little put out by this as chocolate cake was her absolute favourite.)

There must be a million and one different ways to make carrot cake, but here I’ll share one of my favorite recipes. It uses a special Norwegian pineapple and mandarin flavoured cream cheese for the icing, but you can use any citrus or plain cream cheese and flavour it with orange zest.

You need:
500 ml plain flour
500 ml brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 tsp cinnamon
4-5 eggs (depending on size)
300 ml vegetable oil
6-8 grated carrots

For the icing:
1 pack (125 g) Tine Kremost Pineapple & Mandarin
50 g unsalted butter
300 g icing sugar.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 ºC. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, and stir. The mix is a little dry at this time, but don’t worry. Alternate mixing in small amounts of oil and carrot – don’t stir too much as this will make the cake flat and heavy. Pour the mix into a round spring tin lined with baking paper and bake for 45-50 minutes. You can also use a square pan, but reduce baking time to about 40 minutes. Let the cake cool on a wire rack before you prepare the icing.

To make icing, melt the cheese and butter in a pan over low heat. Add icing sugar and mix until smooth and thick. Pour over the cake and spread it unevenly (it’s supposed to look messy). Decorate with strips of carrot or orange peel and serve.

Enjoy! This carrot cake will keep for a long time, but it won’t last once you taste it.