I’m not going to lie, I saw this recipe on BBC Goodfood and it was good enough to share.
Cakes are one of those things that always seem to have the same ingredients and made in the same way. But the devil is in the detail and everyone has a slightly different variation.
Growing up I never thought of carrot cake as a proper ‘cake’. I think it was the carrots.
Fast forward a good few years and I’m a ‘vegetables in cakes’ convert, if that’s even a thing. Give me beetroot in a chocolate cake, bring on the courgettes. So much so, that it’s easy to overlook the humble carrot cake, but let me persuade you.
If you are trying your best to be good, post Christmas, but keep falling off the wagon, then I think carrot cake is for you. It’s sweet, slightly gooey and… carrots, so it must be healthy, right?

You’ll need:
2 spring form cake tins
230ml vegetable oil, plus extra for the tin
100g natural yoghurt
4 large eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract
½ orange, zested
265g self-raising flour
335g light muscovado sugar
2½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ fresh nutmeg, finely grated
265g carrots (approx. 3), grated
100g sultanas or raisins
100g walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped (optional)
For the icing:
100g slightly salted butter, softened
300g icing sugar
100g soft cheese

Method:
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins with baking parchment.
Whisk the oil, yoghurt, eggs, vanilla and zest in a jug.
Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg with a good pinch of salt in a bowl. Squeeze any lumps of sugar through your fingers, shaking the bowl a few times to bring the lumps to the surface.
Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry, along with the carrots, raisins and half the nuts, if using. Mix well to combine, then divide between the tins.
Bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If any wet mixture clings to the skewer, return to the oven for 5 mins, then check again. Leave to cool in the tins.
To make the icing, beat the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add half the soft cheese and beat again, then add the rest (adding it bit by bit prevents the icing from splitting).
Remove the cakes from the tins and sandwich together with half the icing. Top with the remaining icing and scatter with the remaining walnuts
Apparently, this will keep in the fridge for up to five days, but I cannot verify that because it never lasts that long.