Spiced Carrot, Pecan & Cranberry Cake

This isn’t your average carrot cake: it’s a deep, dark cake jam-packed with carrots, nuts and cranberries, as rich as a Christmas fruit cake. The chai spice mix gives it a little background hint of heat. You can dress this cake up or down; while it’s lovely as it is or simply glazed with some marmalade, it has earned its place in this chapter because we top it with orange buttercream, dried cranberries and pecans.