Hummingbird cake

Auntie Jocelyn requested a cake for our picnic tomorrow in Yass, where we're going to look at her parents' graves and the house they grew up in. I chose a hummingbird cake from a recent issue of delicious (check out the great foodie travel guides at the bottom of the home page). I realised as I was making it that it was actually my mother's recipe for carrot cake! My mother gave me my most treasured kitchen appliance, the KitchenAid mixer pictured. (Hmmm on second thought perhaps I like my dishwasher a tiny bit more.)

3 eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup (160g) brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour, sifted
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
250g grated carrots
3/4 cup (90g) walnuts
440 g crushed pineapple, drained

Preheat oven to 180C=350F. Grease and line base of 23-24 cm springform pan.

Beat eggs, oil and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix flour, soda, and cinnamon until just mixed, then gently combine with carrots, walnuts and pineapple. Bake 45-55 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. When cool, ice with cream cheese icing.

Icing

250 g cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
500 g powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Whiz in food processor.