The best ever carrot cake

Moist sponge lightly spiced and sandwiched together with cream cheese icing - who could resist? Not everyone is a fan of walnuts though so if you prefer replace the walnuts with raisins instead. It’s hard to say which tastes best!

• Preparation: 20 mins
• Cooking: 30 mins
• Makes: 1 large 20cm/8in cake
• Cost: £3.25

What you need:

• 350g/12oz light soft brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 350ml/12floz sunflower oil
• 350g/12oz plain flour
• 7.5ml/11/2tsp baking powder
• 5ml/1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 10ml/2tsp ground cinnamon
• 5ml/1tsp ground ginger
• 5ml/1tsp vanilla essence
• 350g/12oz carrots, peeled and grated
• 75g/3oz finely chopped walnuts or raisins

For the icing:

• 350g/12oz icing sugar
• 50g/2oz soft butter
• 5ml/1tsp vanilla essence
• 150g/5oz cold cream cheese
• walnut halves and a little ground cinnamon to dust

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/Fan 150C/325F/Gas Mark 3. Lightly oil 3 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins and base line with baking parchment.
2. Place the sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and thickened. Sift over the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger then fold in until well mixed. Fold in the carrots and walnuts or raisins.
3. Divide the mixture between the prepared cake tins. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35mins or until golden, risen and the middle bounces back when lightly pressed. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. For the icing: sift the icing sugar into a large bowl, add the soft butter and vanilla essence. Use an electric whisk on low, to beat this until it is well mixed. Add the cream cheese and briefly beat together again until just combined. Don’t over beat or it will become runny.
5. When the cakes are cold, peel away the baking parchment. Divide the icing between the three cakes, spreading it evenly over the top of each. Stack the cakes one on top of the other. Top with the walnut halves and cinnamon. Store in a cool place.

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