These cake pops with have everyone 'hopping' over for a second helping this Easter!
150g Soft Light Brown Sugar
2 medium Eggs
150ml Sunflower Oil
170g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
150g Carrots, grated
100g Walnuts, chopped
30g Sultanas
Frosting:
100g Butter, room temperature
250g Icing Sugar
125g Mascarpone
Icing to decorate:
60ml Egg White (approx. 1 medium Egg White)
240g Icing Sugar
Green Food Colouring
Orange Food Colouring
Start by making the icing for decoration. Put the egg white into a small bowl, sieve in the icing sugar a little at a time and mix until you have a thick but glossy icing. Separate into two bowls, add the green food colouring to one bowl and the orange to the other. Cling film the orange for later.
Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Put the green icing into a piping bag and using a nozzle, or snip the very tip of the bag, pipe 24 carrot leaf shapes. Set aside somewhere warm to dry.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/Gas 3. Line 2 x 8 inch sandwich tins with baking paper.
Put the oil, eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Sieve in the flour & other dry ingredients. Stir in the grated carrot, sultanas and walnut pieces. Divide the mixture between the two sandwich tins and smooth over with a palette knife.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the cakes to cool on a wire rack for at least an hour. For the frosting, soften the butter in a bowl using a hand mixer or wooden spoon, add the icing sugar bit by bit, and once it begins to stiffen and becomes hard to mix add the mascarpone. Beat on a low speed or by hand until it is a smooth texture.
Spread a thin layer of butter cream on top of one of the cakes and stack the other one top. Cover the top and sides of the cake in a smooth thick layer of the frosting using a palette knife.
Cut the cake into equal triangular slices, then take the orange icing and pipe a zigzag pattern across each one. Add three green leaves to the top of each carrot.