Carrot cake

Moist, lightly spiced sponge with cream cheese icing

If you prefer, you can replace the walnuts with raisins.

Preparation time 20 minutes
Cooking time 30-35 minutes

You will need
For the cake
350g light soft brown sugar
350ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs
350g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla essence
350g carrots, peeled and grated
75g walnuts, finely chopped

For the icing
350g icing sugar
50g butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla essence
150g cream cheese

To decorate
walnut halves
ground cinnamon, to dust

Directions
Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/Gas Mark 3.

Lightly grease and line three 20cm sandwich tins.

Put the sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and thickened. Sift over the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger then fold in until well mixed. Next fold in the vanilla essence, carrots and walnuts.

Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden and the middle bounces back when lightly pressed. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl, add the butter and vanilla essence. Using an electric whisk on a low setting, beat until well mixed. Add the cream cheese and beat briefly until just combined - don’t over beat or it will become runny.

Divide the icing between the three cakes, spreading it evenly over the top of each. Stack one on top of the other. Decorate with the walnut halves and cinnamon.

For more information about the British Carrot Grower’s Association visit www.britishcarrots.co.uk