Carolean celebration carrot cake

Preheat the oven to 170°C, gas mark 3. Grease and line the bases of 3 x 20cm sandwich tins with baking parchment. In a large bowl, whisk the sugars, oil and eggs together until smooth. Slowly add the flour, spices and a pinch of salt, then beat until well mixed.

Fold in the carrots, the raisin, nut & cranberry mix and orange zest until evenly spread through the batter. Pour into the tins evenly and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tins for 20 minutes, then cool fully on a wire rack. As the cakes cool, simmer the orange juice, lemon juice and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved, then set aside.

Make the buttercream. Put the butter into a large bowl and, using an electric hand mixer, beat for about 5 minutes, until pale and silky. Slowly incorporate the icing sugar and, once combined, beat on high speed for 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and orange zest until just combined (don’t beat the cheese for too long, otherwise it makes the frosting too loose).

Stack the first cake on a cake plate and brush with some of the orange and lemon syrup. Spoon over 150g of the buttercream, then repeat with the next layers. Brush the top cake layer with syrup. Smooth 400g more of the frosting over the top and sides of the cake and spread smoothly. If you have a cake turntable and scraper, use these to make it really smooth.

Put the remaining 200g frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, and pipe 12 large rosettes around the top edge of the cake. Spoon the marmalade into the middle and spread it out. Scatter the piped buttercream with the bronze crunch. Keep the cake in a cool place.