Carrot Cake Numero Deux

You may well have seen my blog post a few weeks ago about my first ever attempt at baking carrot cake (if not, you can look at it here). This particular recipe was based on a non-gluten free version in Mary Berry's Baking Bible and was a bit of an eyebrow-raiser from the start, since it used two bananas in addition to a small quantity of grated carrot. Odd, no? But Mary Berry is the Queen of Cake, so I put my faith in her and, well, it didn't quite work. Why? Primarily, I suspect, because it was very banana-y, and I'm led to believe that generally, carrot cake probably shouldn't taste of banana (even if it does still taste good).

So, having spent some time researching carrot cake in all its glorious forms (by the way, no other recipe I came across used banana) and today I've had another bash at it. This is the new result:

I don't want to brag - it's really rather unbecoming of a lady such as myself - but I actually think this one looks pretty good. Awesome, even!

Since my last 'carrot cake' was really more of a 'spiced banana cake', I figured it was my sworn duty to do a quick taste-test. After all, if I want you to buy it, I'd better make sure it's up to snuff, right? Right!

Oh my Lordy heavens, it's really very good! In the mouth, not on the waist, since this delicious cake, despite having heaps of veg in it, is actually VERY sinful. Then again, what's the point of cake, I ask you, if it isn't just a tad naughty? Or a lot naughty, as this one might be? So, what we have here is a fresh, gluten free, moist and spiced nutty carrot cake, filled and topped with a creamy vanilla cream cheese icing.

Tempted yet?!

*Sneaks back for a second slice*