Undercover Carrotcake

New Zealand is probably one of the most beautiful countries of the world. It has such breathtakingly beautiful nature that it's certainly a must-go for every traveler. So don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of New Zealand, but if there is one thing you don't have to go look for on the other side of the world, it would probably be the cuisine! The menu of every cafe or restaurant pretty much consists of the same tasty but also very unhealthy and not very creative dishes, like nachos, patato wedges, fish and chips etc.
Nonetheless the Kiwi's have one specialty, delicious enough for me to want to fly all the way around the world to be able to taste it again.. New Zealand Carrotcake!!
The exact recipe of the best cake ever was hard to find, because every café apparently has it's own secret recipe, so I decided to go undercover and find out.. 

And ever since the first time I made my carrotcake at home, my friends and family have been asking me to make it at every birthday, party or any other excuse they could think of.

 Because I figured it would be selfish to keep this great (secret) recipe from the rest of the word, the time has come to share it with you all. So here it comes:

 Ingrediënts: 

• 2 cups of raw sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup Oil (sunflower)
• 2 cups wholewheat flour
• 1 1/2 cup pineapple (from a can)
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 3 cups grated carrot
• 2 Teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Allspice (also known as Piment)
• 2 cups sultanas
• 1 cup wallnuts (crushed)
• few drops of vanilla extract 

Creamcheese Icing

• 1 Cup creamcheese
• 2 cups icing sugar
• zest of two lemons

• pumpkin seeds (decoration)
• dried apricots (decoration)
• crushed wallnuts (decoration)

I know there are a lot of ingrediënts, but I promiss it's worth collecting them and from now on it becomes really easy:
Mix all of these ingredients together (except for the Icing ingredients of course) and stir until its blended.
Cover baking dish with baking paper and fill it with the mixture.
Bake the cake for an hour in 180 degrees.

When the cake is cooled down, mix the icing ingrediënts, ice the cake and decorate with pumpkin seeds, apricot and wallnuts for a New Zealand Look!

Bon appetit!

ps: This recipe is also perfectly usable for delicious carrot cupcakes!