Carrot Cake

There are so many variations of carrot cake in shops and cafes; some of them even have marzipan carrots as decoration; sometimes they are called passion cakes (?). I always try them out if I get the chance but they rarely are as good as this recipe produces. it is moist and has a lovely flavour. As the icing, a crucial part of the pleasure, is made with cream cheese, it is not a cake to keep for long, maybe a couple of days in the fridge. I freeze half of it (uniced) for another day when there are only two or few of us.

Carrot Cake

9oz plain flour - this can be wholemeal
6 oz dark brown sugar
6 oz soft brown sugar
3 eggs
6 fl oz sunflower oil - measure carefully, you don't want to put too much in
2 fl oz sour cream - I almost always use yoghurt and a squeeze of lemon
2 tsps pure vanilla essence
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsps cinammon
1 tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp salt
11 oz grated carrots
3 oz desiccated coconut - I leave this out


For the icing:


4 oz cream cheese (you need full fat)
2 oz softened butter
2 oz sifted icing sugar
Juice 1/2 lemon


Oven at No 2 and a 8'' round cake tin lined

1. Put eggs, oil, sour cream and vanilla essence into a large mixing bowl. Beat well. Add the sugars and mix well. The original recipe says to sieve the sugars as there can be lumps in the dark brown sort. But my sieve is too fine for this to work, so I just crumble the sugar in my hands first and then bash any obvious lumps as I am mixing. Then beat the mixture to make it light. Sift the flour, spices and salt together into a bowl and then fold into your mixture. 
2. Add the carrots plus the coconut if you use it. Mix well. Taste and check you have put enough nutmeg in.
3. Put into your prepared tin and cook 1 1/2 - 2 hours till risen and a skewer comes out clean. It takes about ten minutes short of the full 2 hours in my oven. Put greaseproof paper over the top after the first 1 1/2 hours if it is nicely brown.
4. When it is cold, ice with the topping ingredients well mixed.