Cardamom Carrot Cake with Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting

Butter / oil a 13 x 9-inch rectangular baking tray. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper or baking paper and set aside. If you don’t have a 13 x 9-inch rectangular baking tray, you can use other baking pans, just adjust baking time accordingly. The amount of batter will be enough for two 9-inch round cake pans, or 22 - 24 cupcakes.
Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan forced).
Remove the cardamom seeds from the cardamom pods, and coarsely crush in a mortar and pestle. Set aside.
Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Whisk with a fork and set aside.
In a large bowl beat oil and sugar with a hand beater or stand mixer for about 2 minutes till combined. The mixture will be quite liquid and grainy, but some of the sugar will have dissolved.
Add eggs one by one, beating for about 30 - 40 seconds after each addition.
Add crushed cardamom seeds, cardamom powder and vanilla. Mix. At this point set aside the mixer. The rest of the ingredients will be mixed with your hand using a spatula.
Add the grated carrots and fold through the batter.
Add the crushed pistachios, and crushed almonds and fold through. Reserve some of the pistachios for the garnish.
Add the sifted flour and lightly fold through till all the flour is mixed through.
Pour the carrot cake batter into the prepared baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 200 C for 40 - 50 minutes till skewer inserted in centre of cake is clean, and the top is golden brown.
Set aside the cake to cool.

Sift about 2 ½ - 3 ½ cups powdered sugar / icing sugar into a bowl. It’s important to do this step otherwise the powdered sugar will form clumps in the frosting.
Remove the cardamom seeds from the cardamom pods, and coarsely crush in a mortar and pestle. Set aside.
Make sure that the cream cheese and butter are at room temperature and cut into cubes.
Place the cubed butter into a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk for about a minute till creamy.
Add cubed cream cheese, a few cubes at a time. Beat after every addition till the cream cheese is light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and the crushed cardamom seeds.
Add icing sugar,½ cup at a time, and beat till required consistency and sweetness is reached. I prefer a tangier cream cheese frosting so I add less sugar, however, feel free to add more to your desired taste. If the cream cheese icing is too hard, add a few tablespoons of milk.
Once the cake is cool, cover with cream cheese frosting. Cut into squares and enjoy.
The amount of frosting is enough to frost the top layer of a 13x9 inch rectangular baking tray. If you want to make a double tier round cake, or cupcakes, then you would need to double the frosting. For reference - the amount of batter will be enough for two 9-inch round cake pans, or 22 - 24 cupcakes.