Recipe Details

Carrot cake

Dessert & Treats Recipes

Ingredients

    175g light muscovado sugar
    175ml sunflower oil
    3 large eggs, lightly beaten
    140g grated carrot (about 3 medium)
    100g raisins
    1 large orange, zested
    175g self-raising flour
    1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
    1 tsp ground cinnamon
    ½ tsp grated nutmeg (freshly grated will give you the best flavour)
    For the frosting
    175g icing sugar
    1½-2 tbsp orange juice

Instructions

    STEP 1
    Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment.

    STEP 2
    Tip the sugar, sunflower oil and eggs into a big mixing bowl. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the carrots, raisins and orange zest.

    STEP 3
    Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into the bowl. Mix everything together, the mixture will be soft and almost runny.

    STEP 4
    Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 mins or until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre.

    STEP 5
    Cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point if you want to serve it at a later date.)

    STEP 6
    Beat the icing sugar and orange juice in a small bowl until smooth – you want the icing about as runny as single cream. Put the cake on a serving plate and boldly drizzle the icing back and forth in diagonal lines over the top, letting it drip down the sides.