Ginger And Walnut Carrot Loaf

Our answer

Nigella's Ginger And Walnut Carrot Cake (from AT MY TABLE) is a popular cake that is baked in a 20cm/8-inch springform tin. We have also baked a full quantity of the cake batter in a 900g/2lb loaf tin. Grease the tin with vegetable oil and line the base with some baking parchment (parchment paper) or use a paper loaf tin liner. At 170°c/150°c Fan/325°F the baking time should be between 1 hour and 1 hour 20 minutes, or until the cake is risen, firm on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. You only need to make half the quantity of frosting for the loaf cake.

The tin size is 21 x 11 x 6cm/8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches. Unfortunately the 1lb and 2lb tins sold have quite a variety of dimensions and some are very similar. We have tried a half quantity of the cake batter in a smaller 1lb loaf tin and using the same oven temperature the baking time is approximately 40 minutes. The smaller cake only needs one quarter of the frosting quantity. The cake, without frosting, also freezes well and you could freeze it in individually wrapped slices, which will defrost at room temperature in around 2 hours. Unfortunately we have not tried the cake in cupcake form so can't guarantee the results but we estimate that the recipe would make 12-18 cupcakes, filling each cupcake liner two-thirds full. We would estimate a baking time of around 20 minutes and you may need to increase the frosting quantity slightly.