Baking | Perfect Carrot Cake

 

Who doesn’t love a slice of deliciously squidgy and moist carrot cake? Only traditional cream cheese topping will do for me as it’s just deliciously cool and sweet.

Carrot cake recipes do vary, some include raisins and/or chopped nuts, but I prefer to keep things simlple without added extras. However, feel free to include your favourites.

Equipment:

 

 26 x 16.5cm (10¼ in x 6½ inch) tray-bake tin, or, a typical brownie tin.

Scales

Zester

Baking parchment

A large mixing bowl

Electric mixer (or use a wooden spoon)

Vegetable peeler 

Grater

Sharp knife

Ingredients

 

175g (6oz) butter, softened
175g (6oz) soft light brown sugar
250g (8oz) self-raising flour
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
3 medium eggs
100g packet walnuts, chopped (optional)
350g (12oz) carrots, peeled and coarsely grated

For the cream cheese topping:

 

1 x 300g carton cream cheese (I use Philadelphia)
2 tablespoons of icing sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

 

Firstly, preheat oven to 160°C (320°F, gas mark 3.

 

1. Make the cake batter

 

1. It couldn’t be easier, simply place all of the ingredients into a large bowl and beat until smooth.
2. Spoon into the lined cake tin and level the surface. It really is that simple.

 

2. Bake

 

Place your tin in the centre of your pre-heated oven for 45 mins to 1 hr, or until risen and a skewer comes out clean after being inserted into the cake.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 mins, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Use the overlap of parchment to lift the cake out of the tin. Whilst the cake is cooling, make the topping/frosting.

 

3. Make the topping

 

1. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy using an electric whisk.
2. Spread over the top of the cake and use a fork to fluff up the topping or create fork lines.

As you can see, my topping is quite thick and always goes down well.

 

Finally…

 

Once sufficiently cool, cut the cake into approx 15 squares. There are really no rules here, and if you prefer a bar shape slice, go for it!  The cake will keep in an airtight container in a cool place for up to three days. (I tend to keep mine in the fridge).

 

What’s your favourite bake? why not try out another of my favourite recipes.

Please read individual packaging for nutritional information.