Carrot cake recipe | Good Food

Slices of yummy scrummy carrot cake on brown baking paper

175g light muscovado sugar
175ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs
lightly beaten
140g grated carrot
(about 3 medium)
100g raisins
1 large orange
zested
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp grated nutmeg
(freshly grated will give you the best flavour)

For the frosting

175g icing sugar
1½-2 tbsp orange juice

Method

step 1
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment.
step 2
Tip the sugar, sunflower oil and eggs into a big mixing bowl. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the carrots, raisins and orange zest.
step 3
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into the bowl. Mix everything together, the mixture will be soft and almost runny.
step 4
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 mins or until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre.
step 5
Cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point if you want to serve it at a later date.)
step 6
Beat the icing sugar and orange juice in a small bowl until smooth – you want the icing about as runny as single cream. Put the cake on a serving plate and boldly drizzle the icing back and forth in diagonal lines over the top, letting it drip down the sides.