This is another recipe where I didn’t think to photograph the result, but I can assure you the recipe is spot on and the resultant cake was simply perfect. I heartily recommend making this, it is easy to make and even easier to eat.
The recipe is from the BBC Good Food website and was written by Mary Cadogan. She says it can be cut to 15 slices, though I guess that is slightly dependent on who you are cutting for.
It seems I will be very busy, as I have already promised to make certain items again,and the post photos.
Update:
I have now made the cake again, for the purposes of a photo. The recipe calls for an 18cm square tin. Now I only have a 20cm square tin. What to do? That was a bit of a quandary, but ever resourceful I set my mind to work. The solution, courtesy of a few minutes of searching on the internet, was to increase all quantities in the recipe by one fifth. It seems that an 18 cm square tin is 81% of the capacity of a 20cm one. So increasing the quantities by 20% just about cover it.
And so to the photo of the new cake, with another to be added tomorrow, after it has been sliced open.
This cake is dairy free and can be frozen, if desired.
- 175g light muscovado sugar
- 175ml sunflower oil
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 140g grated carrots (about 3 medium)
- 100g raisins
- grated zest of 1 large orange
- 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)
- 175g icing sugar
- 1½-2 tbsp orange juice
- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment. The easiest way to do this is to cut two long strips the width of the tin and put each strip crossways, covering the base and sides of the tin, with a double layer in the base.
- Tip the sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, raisins and orange rind.
- Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients – when everything is evenly amalgamated stop mixing. The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point.)
- Beat together the frosting ingredients in a small bowl until smooth – you want the icing about as runny as single cream. Set 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.