Cheesecake carrot cake from my blogging friend Alice

Every now and then I get overly excited when I discover a new recipe that's really different. I was on such a high after I'd baked this recipe for Cheesecake Carrot Cake. I shared it on our facebook page and received lots of comments from Kiwicakers keen to give it a try themselves. I've made both cheesecake and carrot cake separately before of course, but never the two together in one pan. I did share just a little of this cake with others, to great acclaim. There were superlative exclamations of its yumminess from my taste testers! 

The recipe comes from my blogging friend Alice (you may remember her from last year's Chelsea New Zealand's hottest home baker). You can check out her blog here. She also recently released this book. I own a copy and recommend getting it for yourself.

Alice has generously allowed me to share the recipe here with you. Whilst mine differed slightly in appearance (that's to say Alice's is much prettier), I was very happy with mine. I've copied the recipe by hand into the family recipe book and it's now a firm favourite for many years to come.

Ingredients

Cheesecake
• 375 g cream cheese, softened to room temp
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ¼ c cream
Carrot Cake
• ¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1 ½ cups coarsely grated carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
• 1/3 cup sultanas
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts (e.g. pecans or walnuts)
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• 125 g cream cheese, softened to room temp
• 50 g butter, softened to room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
• pumpkin seeds or chopped nuts, to decorate

How to

1. Preheat oven to 170 °C. Grease the sides and line the bottom of a 23 cm spring form tin.
2. To make the Cheesecake beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Scrape down the sides then beat in the flour and vanilla. Add the eggs one at time, beating until just combined. Stir in the cream (try not to add any more air to the mixture) and set aside.
3. To make the Carrot Cake, beat the sugar and oil with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes or until sugar is starting to dissolve. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices and add to the sugar/oil mixture. Stir until just combined then stir in the carrots, sultanas and nuts.
5. Spoon two-thirds of the Carrot Cake batter into the base of the prepared tin and spread out to reach the sides. Level the batter as much as you can.
6. Spoon all of the Cheesecake mixture over the Carrot Cake batter. Use a large spoon to “dot” the top of the Cheesecake mixture with the remaining Carrot Cake batter. DO NOT swirl it in, instead, let the heavier Carrot Cake batter sink into the Cheesecake.
7. Gently tap the tin onto the bench a few times to level the mixture out.
8. Bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 45-55 minutes until cake is set but still a little wobbly in the middle.
9. Cool on the bench in the tin until cake reaches room temperature then refrigerate until cold.
10. To make the cream cheese icing, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and lemon juice then scrape down the sides. Add the icing sugar all in one go and beat until light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes with a stand mixer or 5-7 minutes with a hand held electric mixer).
11. Unmould cake, place on a platter or cake plate and spread icing over top of chilled cake. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds or chopped nuts and chill for an hour.
12. Store cake in the fridge but remove about half an hour prior to serving.