How Do I Use The Grated Ginger In The Frosting For The Ginger And Walnut Carrot Cake?

Our answer

Nigella's Ginger And Walnut Carrot Cake (from AT MY TABLE) is a popular, more rustic alternative to the very spongy American-style carrot cake, packed with nuggets of spicy crystallized (candied) ginger and crunchy walnuts.

The cake is topped with a cream cheese frosting that is flavoured with fresh ginger. Nigella did not want to use grated fresh ginger as ginger is quite fibrous and you would have bits of ginger in the frosting, which would not appeal to everyone. So instead Nigella uses the juice extracted from fresh ginger. To extract the juice, the ginger is first grated. Put the grated ginger into the centre of a piece of kitchen roll (paper towel or kitchen paper). Bring the edges and corners of the paper in and twist to form a little bag enclosing the grated ginger, then squeeze so that the juice from the ginger is extracted, leaving the pulp in the paper. You could also use a small, clean piece of muslin or cheesecloth instead of the kitchen roll. Beat the ginger juice into the cream cheese frosting.