mini carrot cakes with lemon cream cheese icing

A must have tea time treat, with perfectly balanced sweet lemon icing.

Ingredients:
-175g brown sugar

-250ml vegetable oil

-4 large eggs

-200g cake flour

-2 teaspoons baking powder

-1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 teaspoon ground ginger

-500g grated carrot

-50g chopped pecan nuts, plus extra for decoration

-80g sultanas

-125ml crushed pineapple

Lemon cream cheese icing:

-60g butter

-250g icing sugar

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-80g smooth cream cheese

-grated zest of 1 lemon

Method:

Preheat oven to 190'C. Lightly greese 20 mini loaf tins (5cm x 10cm) and place them on a baking tray. Beat the sugar, oil and eggs together for 5 minutes until fluffy. Sift the dry ingredients together and add sugar mixture together with the grated carrots, nuts, saltanas and pineapple. Mix together well and pour into the mini loaf tins. Bake for 30 minutes, turning them halfway through the baking time.

(To make a round 22cm cake, add an extra 100g of grated carrot and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean.)

To make icing, place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat together until the icing is light and fluffy. Ice the cooled cakes and decorated with extra pecan nuts.

Makes 20 mini cakes

Reciepe from 'BAKE- Tina Bester Queen of Tarts'