Delicious Every Time - No Fail Carrot Cake!

Submitted by Um Safia

"For some reason I managed to mess up carrot cake on a regular basis - it was always too wet or too dry, too dense or too crumbly! I just couldn't find a recipe that suited me & the oven! This recipe produces a light, delicately spiced carrot cake. You can use the icing or use your favourite buttercream or frosting on this. Sometimes I use a basic buttercream with added cinnamon which is amazing ;)"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 15

ingredients

• 175 g brown sugar (muscovado)
• 160 ml sunflower oil or 160 ml canola oil
• 3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
• 170 g grated carrots
• 50 g mixed peel
• 50 g desiccated coconut
• 1 grated large orange, zest of
• 180 g self-raising flour
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 1⁄4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1⁄8 teaspoon mixed spice

• Icing

• 1 orange, juice of
• confectioners' sugar or icing sugar

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160°C Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Pour sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, mixed peel, coconut, nuts and orange rind.
3. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients - stop as soon as you see everything is mixed together. The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 55-65 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre & comes out clean 7 dry with the toothpick test. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point.)
5. Squeeze the orange into a small bowl & add enough sifted icing sugar to make a pourable icing - beat until smooth & the consistency of single cream. Place cake on a serving plate and drizzle icing over the top, letting it drip down the sides.