Indian "Inspired" carrot halwa cake.

This cake was a total success it tasted just how I imagined it would. The cake was baked the second day of Ramadan for my friend (Indian) and neighbor, I know her and the kids are not a fan of America style sweets such as Chocolate cake (yeah never thought I could befriend someone who didn't like Chocolate cake) so I came up with this fabulous Indian inspired carrot cake only to find someone had already thought of this ONLINE (talk about a bubble burst) anyhow I'm sure the cake can be made using real carrot halwa in the mix just know that it's loaded with ghee and massive amounts of sugar, so this is slightly healthier in my book. The carrots have been finely grated giving the cake a light orange color free of large carrot shavings. The icing is very simple but compliments the cake very well.


 Ingredients
2 cups self rising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 cardamon pods
1 cup castor sugar plus 2 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 extra large eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 medium carrots finely grated
1 heaping tablespoon lightly toasted cashews chopped
1 heaping tablespoon lightly toasted pistachios chopped
Sweetened condensed milk icing recipe follows

Directions
Preheat you oven to 350*F. Butter two 9 inch cake pans and coat with flour, set aside. Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods and place in a food processor with approximately 2 tablespoons of sugar, pulse finely, set aside  In a medium bowl, sift your flour, baking soda, salt, and half of the cardamon powder. toss in the toasted nuts and set aside. In a small heavy duty pan combine the sweetened condensed milk and regular milk with 1/2 of the cardamon sugar, heat until it reaches a light boil then lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and slowly stream in the oil and continue to beat. Gently mix the dry ingredients alternately with the milk mixture and finely grated carrots into the egg mix in 3 separate additions starting and ending with the flour. Evenly pour the batter into the prepared pan/pans and bake for approximately 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpic inserted in the center comes out clean. If you're using a large pan add at least 7 to 10  minutes baking time. Cool the cakes in the pans for approximately 10 minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Easy sweetened condensed topping
Combine the remainder of the condensed milk with 1/3 teaspoon cardamon powder and heat over low heat for 7 minutes or until the milk thickens and becomes slightly darker in color. Ice your cake while still warm (both the cake and topping) Sprinkle the cake with chopped nuts.