Easy Carrot Cake
Easy Carrot Cake made with grated carrot, sultanas, walnuts, orange zest and gentle spices, baked as two soft, moist layers and finished with simple buttercream icing.
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Servings: 10 slices
INGREDIENTS
- 75 g Caster Sugar
- 75 g Soft Light Brown Sugar
- 150 ml Sunflower Oil
- 3 Free-range Eggs (beaten; at room temperature; see Egg Size note below)
- 140 g Grated Carrot (approx. one medium-large carrot)
- Zest of 1 Orange (optional but recommended)
- 75 g Sultanas or Raisins
- 50 g Walnuts (roughly chopped)
- 175 g Self-raising Flour (see Self-raising Flour note below)
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg
For the Buttercream
- 150 g Block Margarine or Butter (at room temperature; plus extra for greasing)
- 300 g Icing Sugar
- Zest of an Orange or ½ tsp Cinnamon (optional)
- 1 handful Walnuts (roughly chopped; optional)
EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 4 or 350°F). Grease and line two 18cm (7 inch) sandwich cake tins with
greaseproof paper . Set aside. - In a large bowl, mix the oil,
caster sugar and brown sugar before adding the eggs one at a time, ensuring they are mixed through. Add the carrot, raisins/sultanas, walnuts and orange zest, and mix to combine.75 g Caster Sugar; 75 g Soft Light Brown Sugar; 150 ml Sunflower Oil; 3 Free-range Eggs; 140 g Grated Carrot; Zest of 1 Orange; 75 g Sultanas or Raisins; 50 g Walnuts - Sift in the flour and
bicarbonate of soda , add the cinnamon and nutmeg before folding the mixture together to create a batter.175 g Self-raising Flour; 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda; 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon; ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg - Spoon the batter evenly into your prepared tins and bake in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool in the tins a little before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
For the Buttercream:
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter/margarine with the
icing sugar (and orange zest/cinnamon, if using) until you have a smooth buttercream.150 g Block Margarine or Butter; 300 g Icing Sugar; Zest of an Orange or ½ tsp Cinnamon - Once completely cool, spread half the buttercream on the top of one of your Carrot Cake layers, sandwich the other on top and spread the remaining buttercream on top. Finish with chopped walnuts to finish, if desired.1 handful Walnuts
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion, but these, unfortunately, won't always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
RECIPE NOTES:
Egg Size: I usually bake with mixed-weight free-range eggs. If buying by size, medium eggs in the UK – roughly equivalent to large eggs in the US – are a good guide. Egg size doesn't need to be overly exact here, though, so don't worry if yours vary slightly.
Carrot: The recipe uses 140g grated carrot, which is usually about one medium-to-large carrot. Don't squeeze the moisture out of the carrot after grating.
Self-raising Flour: Don't have self-raising flour? Whisk together 175g (1⅓ cups) plain flour (all-purpose flour) with 2¼ teaspoons baking powder instead. For more information and conversions, see my Self-raising Flour Ingredient Guide.
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