Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Thick, glossy swirls of vanilla-flecked cream cheese icing piled onto a deeply spiced sponge, scattered with walnut halves and a warm dusting of cinnamon.
Ingredients
Serves 12- 3large eggs
- 300 gplain flour
- 350 gcarrots, peeled and grated
- 2 tspground cinnamon
- 200 glight brown sugar
- pinch of salt
- 200 mlvegetable oil
- 1 tspbaking powder
- 1 tspbicarbonate of soda
- ½ tspground nutmeg (optional) (optional)
- 100 gwalnuts, roughly chopped
- 75 gsultanas (optional) (optional)
- 300 gfull-fat cream cheese, softened
- 200 gicing sugar, sifted
- 75 gunsalted butter, softened
- 1 tspvanilla extract (optional) (optional)
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C fan / 200°C / gas 6. Grease and line a 23cm square cake tin with baking parchment, leaving a little overhang for easy lifting later.
- Whisk the eggs and light brown sugar in a large bowl for 2–3 minutes until the mixture is thick, glossy and pale; this is where the sponge gets its lift, so don't rush it. Pour in the vegetable oil in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly, until you have a smooth, satiny batter.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, optional nutmeg if using, and a proper pinch of salt over the wet mix. The salt isn't optional here; it sharpens the spice and stops the sponge tasting flat. Fold gently with a spatula until just combined; stop the moment the streaks of flour disappear, because overworking now means a tough crumb later.
- Tip in the grated carrots, 75g of the chopped walnuts and optional sultanas if using and fold through until evenly distributed. The batter will be thick and flecked with orange; that's exactly right.
- Scrape into the prepared tin, level the top, and bake for 40–45 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown, the edges have pulled away slightly from the tin, and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. The sponge should spring back when pressed in the middle.
- Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then lift onto a wire rack and allow about 75 minutes more, until completely cold. Any residual warmth will turn your icing into a slick; patience here pays off.
- While the cake cools, beat the softened butter and sifted icing sugar together for 2 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and optional vanilla if using and beat for another minute, just until silky and spreadable. Taste it; a tiny pinch of salt will lift the vanilla and cut the sweetness; adjust, before it's on the cake.
- Spread the icing over the completely cold cake and scatter with the remaining 25g chopped walnuts. Cut into 12 squares.
Per serving
- kcal
- 578
- protein
- 7.6g
- fibre
- 2.3g
- carbs
- 57.5g
- fat
- 36.2g
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