Three-tier wedding carrot cake

I made this three-tier carrot cake for the wedding of our friends Becky and Luke. It was a really moist and flavoursome cake, given texture with a mixture of plain and wholemeal flour and ground almonds, chopped pecans and rum-soaked raisins, and spiced with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. I topped it with a classic cream cheese icing, and decorated it with a colourful array of fruit to go with the rainbow colour theme of the wedding. 

Note: As the quantities are so big, I decided to make each cake separately so as to ensure that there was the right proportion of batter in each cake tin, and also because I find it quite difficult to fit so much cake batter in a single bowl and fully incorporate the ingredients when mixing. I've listed the ingredients for each of the three sized tins here (6, 9 and 12 inches).  I've also added a table to the conversions page of the blog to show how cake quantities can be scaled up and down for different sized tins and from round to square tins.

Ingredients

For the 12-inch round cake

700g (1 lb 7 oz) carrots

120g (4 oz) sultanas

4 tbsp dark rum

500g (1 lb) butter

350g (12 oz) soft brown sugar

250g (8 oz) self-raising flour

120g (4 oz) plain wholemeal flour

120g (4 oz) ground almonds

4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp baking powder

8 eggs

4 tbsp golden syrup

1 lemon, zest and juice

1 orange, zest and juice

2 tsp vanilla essence

120g (4 oz) pecans, chopped

For the 9-inch round cake

350g (12 oz) carrots

60g (2 oz) sultanas

2 tbsp dark rum

250g (8 oz) butter

175g (6 oz) soft brown sugar

125g (4 oz) self-raising flour

60g (2 oz) plain wholemeal flour

60g (2 oz) ground almonds

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

2 tbsp golden syrup

½ lemon, zest and juice

½ orange, zest and juice

1 tsp vanilla essence

60g (2 oz) pecans, chopped

For the 6-inch round cake

140g (5 oz) carrots

25g (1 ½ tbsp) sultanas

1 tbsp dark rum

100g (3 ½ oz) butter

70g (2 ½ oz) soft brown sugar

50g (1 ½ oz) self-raising flour

25g (1 ½ tbsp) plain wholemeal flour

25g (1 ½ tbsp) ground almonds

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ eggs

1 tbsp golden syrup

½ orange, zest and juice

½ tsp vanilla essence

25g (1 ½ tbsp) pecans, chopped

For the icing

400g (14 oz) softened unsalted butter

2 tbsp vanilla essence

1.4kg (3 lb) cream cheese

400g (14 oz) sifted icing sugar

To decorate

Strawberries

Raspberries

Blackberries

Blueberries

Green grapes

Red grapes

Redcurrants

Kumquats

Method

1. Grease and line 6, 9 and 12 inch round cake tins.  Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Peel and coarsely grate the carrots and set aside.
3. Place the sultanas in a small bowl with the rum and set aside to soak.
4. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
5. Measure out the self-raising flour and set aside.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, alternating with a spoonful of the flour to prevent the mixture from curdling.
7. Once all the eggs are incorporated, add the golden syrup, orange and lemon zest and juice, and vanilla essence and beat well.
8. Mix the remaining self-raising flour with the wholemeal flour, ground almonds, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and baking powder, and sift the flour mixture over the wet ingredients.  Beat until combined. 
9. Add the carrot, chopped pecans and sultanas and fold together with a metal spoon.
10. Pour the mixture into the cake tins, level the surface and bake until firm to the touch and a cake tester comes out clean (approximately 40 minutes for the small cake, 1 hour for the medium and 1.5 hours for the large).  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
11. For the icing, beat the softened unsalted butter and vanilla until pale and smooth.  Add the cream cheese, and fold in with a wooden spoon until just combined.  Sift in the icing sugar and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.
12. Once completely cooled, slice the cakes in half and sandwich them back together with a generous layer of icing.
13. Then ice each cake with a 'crumb coat' first layer of icing to trap all the cake crumbs. Refrigerate for an hour to allow this to set.
14. Next, coat each cake with a thick layer of icing, and use a palette knife or the back of a spoon to swirl it attractively. Return to the fridge for a few hours.
15. Finally, transfer the cakes to the stand and decorate with fruit.