This carrot cake traybake couldn't be easier and is soft and fluffy with a delicious cream-cheese frosting.
The prep time is 25 minutes. You'll need to whisk oil, sugar, eggs, orange juice and spices until combined. Then sift in the flour and bicarb and mix until smooth. Then it's just a case of stirring in orange zest, carrots, sultanas and walnuts (optional) and baking.
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Yields:
20 serving(s)
Prep Time:
25 mins
Cook Time:
45 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 10 mins
Cal/Serv:
281
Ingredients
For the cake
200ml
sunflower oil, plus extra to grease
225g
light brown soft sugar
4
medium eggs
Finely grated zest 1 orange, plus juice of 1/2
2tsp.
ground cinnamon
1tsp.
mixed spice
225g
self-raising flour
1tsp.
bicarbonate of soda
200g
coarsely grated carrot
125g
sultanas
25g
chopped walnuts, optional
For the cream cheese frosting
200g
icing sugar sifted
150g
full-fat cream cheese, we used Philadelphia
50g
unsalted butter, softened
1tsp.
vanilla extract
25g
chopped walnuts, optional
Directions
Step 1Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C fan) mark 3. Lightly grease and line a 20.5 x 30.5cm (8 x 12in) rectangular roasting tin with baking parchment.
Step 2For the cake, whisk oil, sugar, eggs, orange juice and spices in a large bowl until combined. Sift over flour and bicarb and mix until smooth. Stir in the orange zest, carrots, sultanas and walnuts, if using, until combined.
Step 3Scrape into prepared tin, smoothing to level. Bake for 45min or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in tin for 10min, then lift on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Step 4To make the cream cheese frosting, beat icing sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in a large bowl with a handheld electric whisk until smooth. Spread over top of cake and scatter over walnuts, if using. Slice and serve.
To store: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Get ahead: Bake cake up to a day ahead. Once cool, return to tin (still in its baking parchment), wrap tin tightly in clingfilm and store at room temperature. Complete recipe to serve.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
