I love a carrot cake and this one is lovely and light and the icing with orange blossom water is pretty special too!!
I really don't like the heavy and dense carrot cakes you can buy - I prefer a lighter version and this is the same recipe as my cake and muffin versions. This one is quicker and easier to make but tastes just as good!
Both my sons love carrot cake so this is a perfect bake when I want to make a cake they will both enjoy and it's quick to make too.
The icing is cream cheese and I have added orange blossom water as it really does make the icing something special. To finish I used some roughly chopped walnuts for decoration and a bit of crunch.
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan) and grease and line a 9x 9 inch (23 x 23cm) square tin with baking parchment.
Put the vegetable oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in the bowl of a standmixer and whisk together.
Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice, ginger, cinnamon, orange zest, carrots and walnuts to the egg mixture.
Mix until fully incorporated.
Put the mixture into the prepared baking tin.
Place in the pre-heated oven for 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin.
Next to make the icing, cream the butter and icing sugar with the orange blossom water until light and fluffy.
Finally add the cream cheese so it is just incorporated.
Spread the icing evenly over the top of the cake using a small spatula.
Then sprinkle with the chopped walnuts to finish.
Carrot Cake Traybake
Sarah’s servings: 16
Sarah's skill: Easy
Baking time: 40 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Cake
185g vegetable oil
185g soft light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
185g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp ground mixed spice
½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 orange, zested
200g carrot, grated
50g walnuts, roughly chopped
Icing
75g unsalted butter, softened
75g icing sugar, sieved
165g full-fat cream cheese
1 tsp orange blossom water
30g walnuts (to decorate)
METHOD
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan).
Line a 23 x 23 cm square tin with baking parchment.
Put the vegetable oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
Whisk until light and fluffy.
Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice, ginger, cinnamon, orange zest, carrots and walnuts and mix until fully incorporated.
Put the cake mixture in the prepared tin and place in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin.
Next to make the icing cream the butter and icing sugar with the orange blossom water until light and fluffy.
Finally add the cream cheese so it is just incorporated.
Spread the icing evenly over the top of the cake with a small spatula and sprinkle with the chopped walnuts to finish.
EQUIPMENT USED
SARAH’S EXTRA SLICE
You could use pecan nuts instead of walnuts if you prefer.
You can buy ready made carrot shapes in most supermarkets to decorate instead of the walnuts.
I used Orange blossom water in my icing but you could use vanilla extract if you don’t have any.