Carrot Cake

Note: I used 50/50 light brown/granulated sugar. I cooked it in a rectangular glass dish but suggest bumping up the quantities for the cake itself by 50% next time. (TODO: edit this recipe to bake that in if it makes sense). Also I didn’t bother sifting or individually mixing things much — nor did I bother using an electric whisk to make the icing (maybe I should have done, or let the butter soften more, since it was lumpy.. — probably whisk and use a large bowl so it doesn’t make a mess)

2025-05:

  • used entirely LB sugar
  • used melted butter instead of oil — 125g butter MELTED, in my case I’m doing double so 250g full block
  • used 150g pecan pack FOR TWO CAKES i.e. 75g each and used processor to chop instead of halving manually
  • used 590g of frozen carrots I already cubed a few weeks before, and then nut-chopped in processor briefly whilst frozen

Ingredients

  • 230 g self-raising flour

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 1.5 tsp cinnamon (ground)

  • 0.5 tsp mixed spice

  • 0.5 tsp ground ginger

  • 100 g light brown sugar

  • Finely grated zest of 1 satsuma or mandarin, plus strips to decorate (optional)

  • 100 g pecans | halved (optional)

  • 260 g carrots | coarsely grated

  • 3 eggs (medium) | beaten

  • 100 ml olive oil then show kiwi

  • 50 g butter | softened

  • 200 g full-fat cream cheese

  • 50 g icing sugar

  • Finely grated zest of 1 orange

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Grease an 18cm loose-bottomed round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

  • Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into a large bowl.

  • Add the sugar, zest, pecans and grated carrots, then stir until well combined.

  • Stir in the beaten eggs and oil, then mix well.

  • Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack, leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out and leave to cool completely before icing.

  • For the icing, beat the butter in a large bowl with a hand mixer until really soft. Add the cream cheese and beat again until well mixed. Sift over the icing sugar, add the orange zest, then beat until smooth. Store, covered, in the fridge until needed.

  • Carefully cut the cake in half then spread half the icing between the cake layers and the other half on top.