My Favourite Carrot Cake

A community recipe by SamIAm

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

Introduction

This came from the 'Baker and Spice baking with passion' award winning book and it is a real stunner. I have tinkered with it a bit but I love how tall it looks on the outside and is full of flavor but still light on the inside. This makes a 23 cm cake with 2 tiers.

Ingredients

Serves: 6

Metric Cups

For the Carrot Cake

300 grams self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (grated)
1 pinch of salt
4 eggs
335 millilitres sunflower oil
450 grams sugar
125 grams carrots (grated)
140 grams walnuts (chopped)
2 tablespoons boiling water

For the Icing

175 grams unsalted butter
200 grams cream cheese (full fat, softened)
215 grams icing sugar (sifted)

For the Carrot Cake

11 ounces self-rising flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (grated)
1 pinch of salt
4 eggs
11¾ fluid ounces vegetable oil
16 ounces sugar
4 ounces carrots (grated)
5 ounces walnuts (chopped)
2 tablespoons boiling water

For the Icing

6 ounces unsalted butter
7 ounces cream cheese (full fat, softened)
8 ounces confectioners' sugar (sifted)

Method

My Favourite Carrot Cake is a community recipe submitted by SamIAm and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

I use two spring form tins (23 cm) that I butter bottom and sides.Cover the buttered bottoms of the tins with a circular piece of baking paper, butter the paper then cover it as well as the sides with flour.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt.

Separate 2 of the 4 eggs.

In a large bowl beat together both the oil and the sugar. Add the whole eggs one at a time, beat the mixture well before adding the two egg yolks. Stir in both the grated carrots and the chopped walnuts. Fold in the flour then add the boiling water.

In another bowl, whisk the 2 egg whites to soft peak stage. Fold it into the batter.

Divide the cake between the two tins. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted at the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool before removing them from the tins.

The icing consists of mixing all the ingredients together. Keep the icing in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Sandwich some icing between the two tiers of cake and then cover the rest with what remains. Put the whole cake in the fridge for 2 hours before serving. The icing fares better if this cake remains in the fridge.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.

Separate 2 of the 4 eggs.

In another bowl, whisk the 2 egg whites to soft peak stage. Fold it into the batter.

Divide the cake between the two tins. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted at the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool before removing them from the tins.

The icing consists of mixing all the ingredients together. Keep the icing in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Additional Information

This cake is for those not crazy about carrot cake and want that little extra. It is like a spice cake with some carrots thrown in. It is a two tier tall cake with a beautiful white icing that one can use for Birthdays. I am asked to make this all the time. DELICIOUS and GORGEOUS!

Tell us what you think

What 14 Others have said

Favourite cake! Made this a fair few times now! My family love it! And the icing is perfect just pop it in the fridge For 10 mins or so and it’s perfect, fan oven at 170 for the 45 mins xx thank you again nigella!

Posted by Jessica101 on 14th May 2019
Oven temp for those wondering should be 180C Also, not sure why they changed the icing recipe as it's perfect in the book- 130g unsalted butter 300g full-fat soft cheese (Philadelphia) softened 160g icing sugar - beat all ingredients to make a thick cream.

Posted by Tezsangel on 8th May 2019
This was a great cake - very light, very well reviewed. I also made it a bundt tin, and it cooked completely.

I cooked it for an hour in 160℃ fan, and it came out a bit burnt on top, so maybe slightly less. Also used a little more icing sugar in the icing, just to thicken it like the other commenters.

Posted by Labrose on 22nd August 2017
Isn't 450g of sugar a little excessive? I followed this recipe closely only to discover it really is just too sweet. I'd advise others to reduce the amount of sugar added.

Posted by mannhwen on 15th May 2016
Screaming because it doesn't say a temperature! I edited the instructions a little, as I only wanted a 1 layer cake for Mother's Day, but there was a little batter left over that I put into a mini cake tin :D Apart from the temperature, it's a great recipe!

Posted by booyahbitches on 8th May 2016
I take it all back from my previous comment. It turned out really great. I did cook it for about an hour and a quarter and the icing needed a bit of tweaking to get it firm enough as I added some lemon juice and I also left out the butter but settled for a few dollops of Philadelphia cream cheese. All good.

Posted by nikcardo on 16th February 2016
I think the quantity of oil is far too much. The cake rose well and looked very impressive but a bit slimey. It was in the oven for 1hr 5 mins at 170 fan assisted and I've put it back for another 20 to see if that dries it out a bit. It is in a single round big tin and not 2 smaller ones so maybe the cooking time needs more.

Posted by nikcardo on 15th February 2016
Just made this in a Bundt Pan, and it came out brilliantly!! Had it on 160 c Fan Oven for 1 hour. Lovely and light and rose a mile high! ....only the cream cheese frosting was a tad loose, otherwise a fab cake.

Posted by Nodmijer on 7th January 2016
Great cake recipe. I also set my fan oven to 160 degrees celsius, which worked perfectly. However, I found the consistency of the cream cheese icing to be a little to loose, so use another!!

Posted by janefraser on 2nd June 2015
awesome recipe! I cannot bake for nuts, but I tried this ones and it was the best cake I ever made in my LIFE! Only thing ...please add what temp to bake it on too. tks!

Posted by nimisha24 on 16th April 2015
I've made this cake twice now and set the oven to 160 degrees (fan assisted) and both times it's baked perfectly. It's such a tasty and moist carrot cake.

Posted by Avashan on 1st June 2014
I made this last night and it came out really badly. I followed the recipe and guessed 180 degrees c as the temperature to cook it but it came out pale, tasting mainly of oil, flaky on the top and... (I have never done this before!) ...I had to throw the cake away. I was gutted after taking time to make it. This is definitely NOT my favourite carrot cake.

Posted by Daisyhay on 11th November 2013