The Ultimate Carrot Cake
Carrot cake is a classic recipe that is sure to delight, as the delicious flavour combinations of cinnamon and nutmeg pair beautifully with the velvety cream cheese icing. Who said indulgence needs to be complex?
1 hour 5 minutes
Serves 10 people
Ingredients
- 4 'Big N Free' Free Range Ethical Eggs
- 100g natural yogurt
- 230ml vegetable oil, plus extra to grease the tin
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- The zest of half an orange
- 335g light muscovado sugar
- 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ fresh nutmeg, finely grated
- Pinch of salt
- 265g self-raising flour
- 265g carrots (roughly 3), grated
- 100g sultanas or raisins
- 100g walnuts or pecan nuts, roughly chopped
- 100g slightly salted butter, softened
- 300g icing sugar
- 100g soft cheese
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan. Oil two 20cm cake tins and line with baking paper. In a jug, whisk the eggs, yogurt, oil, vanilla and orange zest. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, plus a pinch of salt. If there are any lumps in the sugar mix, break these up with your fingers and shake the bowl a few times to break them up further.
- Add the eggs, yogurt, oil, vanilla and orange zest mixture to the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt mixture. Next, add the carrots, raisins and half of the nuts, mix until incorporated, then divide between the two tins.
- Pop into the oven for 25-30 mins or until you can insert a skewer and remove it without any cake mix sticking to the skewer. If the skewer is not clean, return to the oven for 5 minutes. Be sure to check again using a skewer, before leaving the cakes to cool in their tins.
- For the icing, mix the butter and sugar together until they form a smooth mixture. To prevent the icing from splitting, gradually add half of the soft cheese and combine, followed by the rest. Remove the cakes from their tins and use half of the icing to make a sandwich form the two cakes. Use the remaining icing to top the cakes and finish with a sprinkling of walnuts or pecans.
- This delicious cake can be kept for up to five days in the fridge, but we recommend allowing it to reach room temperature before serving, for the most delicious results!
