Carrot, honey and sultana cake

Preparation

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  1. Take a round cake tin - you can use a loaf tin but the centre of the cake bakes more easily in a round one – grease it lightly and line it with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to about 170 degrees, less if you have a fan oven, 150-155 degrees.
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  2. Into a large mixing bowl, add both types of flour, the baking powder, cinnamon and sugar, and mix them all together.
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  3. Break the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk. Drop in the honey and the vanilla essence and mix together with the eggs. Then add the oil and whisk until all of the ingredients are mixed well together.
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  4. Add the egg mixture gradually to the dry ingredients, stirring all the time until everything is thoroughly combined.
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  5. Grate the peeled carrots and weigh out the sultanas, then add both to the mixture and stir them in well. Pour in some milk a little at a time, probably 2-3 tablespoons altogether, until the mixture is fairly soft.
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  6. Take the prepared cake tin and spoon in the mixture, levelling it off at the top. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven, turning once. It will take about an hour to bake
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  make sure that the centre is completely cooked by using a knife or skewer to check.
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  7. When you remove the cake from the oven, let it cool in the cake tin for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack. Peel off the greaseproof paper. Make sure that the cake is cool before cutting it into slices.
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  If you want a richer, sweeter cake, you can always add frosting to the top as you would to a traditional carrot cake. To make frosting, combine butter, beaten until soft, with full fat cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla essence and spread on the top thickly with a palette knife.