Recipes

Easy carrot cake

By Cassie Best

429 ratings 233

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Prep: 35 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Plus cooling

Easy

Serves 10-12

Top this classic carrot cake with moreish

icing and chopped walnuts or pecans. Serve
as a sweet treat with a cup of tea any time of
the day.
Freezable (un-iced)

Nutrition: Per serving (12)

kcal fat saturates carbs

680 37g 8g 78g

sugars fibre protein salt

61g 3g 8g 0.6g

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How to make a carrot cake

Ingredients

230ml vegetable oil, plus extra for the tin

100g natural yogurt

4 large eggs

1½ tsp vanilla extract

½ orange, zested

265g self-raising flour

335g light muscovado sugar

2½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ fresh nutmeg, finely grated

265g carrots (about 3), grated

100g sultanas or raisins

100g walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped

(optional)

For the icing

100g slightly salted butter, softened

300g icing sugar

100g soft cheese

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Method
STEP 1
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and
line the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins
with baking parchment. Whisk the oil, yogurt,
eggs, vanilla and zest in a jug. Mix the flour,
sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg with a good pinch
of salt in a bowl. Squeeze any lumps of sugar
through your fingers, shaking the bowl a few
times to bring the lumps to the surface.

STEP 2
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, along with
the carrots, raisins and half the nuts, if using.
Mix well to combine, then divide between the
tins.

STEP 3
Bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer inserted
into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If
any wet mixture clings to the skewer, return to
the oven for 5 mins, then check again. Leave to
cool in the tins.

STEP 4
To make the icing, beat the butter and sugar
together until smooth. Add half the soft cheese
and beat again, then add the rest (adding it bit
by bit prevents the icing from splitting). Remove
the cakes from the tins and sandwich together
with half the icing. Top with the remaining icing
and scatter with the remaining walnuts. Will keep
in the fridge for up to five days. Best eaten at
room temperature.

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Comments, questions and tips

(233)

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Overall rating
429 ratings

canarygirlpF2yfbA1
1 week ago

Absolute waste of time and money making this

disappointing cake. Too heavy and stodgy. Also
needed almost an hour to cook it not the 25 to
30 minutes suggested in the recipe. Only then
took it out of the oven because the outside
would have burnt.

Reply

boughensami19
1 week ago

then you probably did it wrong mate

calm down

Bonbonsensei Question
2 weeks ago

Can I make this in one 20cm deep tin?

Reply

goodfoodteam
1 week ago

Hello, thank you for your question. We

haven't tested this recipe in one tin. It
would need to be a tin with deep sides
(about 7 cm) and the cooking time
would be much longer - probably be-
tween 1 hr and 1 hr 15 mins. If the cake
is colouring too quickly after 30 mins
you might need to cover the top… More

mariasnow
2 weeks ago

I made this for someone leaving work now, on

even the slightest occasion, I'm asked to make it
over and over. It's rated as better than our local
coffee shop's version. Yes, it does take longer
than stated to cook. Just get a wooden skewer or
cocktail stick and pierce the middle, comes out
clean,… More

Reply

clairekellow93Bx4HI… Question
2 weeks ago

I need to make a nut free carrot cake, what can I

use instead of the 100g of walnuts or pecans in
this recipe? Thank you!

Reply

goodfoodteam
1 week ago

Hello thank you for your question. The

nuts are optional in this recipe so they
can just be left out without a substitu-
tion. Or an extra100g sultanas would
also work. Hope that helps. Best wishes,
BBC Good Food Team

Show replies (1)

tiga273WZTVrehI
3 weeks ago

Is the 300g icing sugar for the frosting a typo?

Am I doing something wrong? I just seem to
have mountains of icing sugar and a tiny amount
of butter that’s impossible to mix (even though I
left it out overnight and softened it with a fork)

Reply

baddamsjayne
2 weeks ago

Try whisking the softened butter and

cream cheese together, then whisk in
the icing sugar a third at a time, finish
with a teaspoon of vanilla extract. This
worked well for me.

Show more (228)

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