This Carrot Cake is super easy and just utterly delicious. A soft and moist carrot cake with easy vanilla buttercream.
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I don’t know who invented carrot cake or where the original idea of adding a vegetable to a cake came from but they were an absolute genius.
As a child, I would always screw my face up in disgust whenever carrot cake was offered, and now I can’t believe I missed out on all those slices of what is, now, my absolute favourite cake.
This carrot cake is packed with carrots (obviously), spices and walnut pieces and it is heavenly.
Cake Tin
As with all of my cake recipes, I used an 8″ round cake tin. I just found that this is the perfect size of cake for sharing.
I prefer to use a loose-bottomed cake tin, as it makes getting the cake out so much easier. Everyone will have their preference and opinion on cake tins and this recipe will work perfectly in any kind of tin.
If you are using a smaller tin, just be aware that the cakes will be deeper and will need to be baked for a longer time at a lower temperature. And if you use a larger tin, the cake will be thinner and will cook quickly.
Related Recipes
Carrot Cake
To make this Carrot Cake you need to use a flavourless oil; I find sunflower or vegetable oil work best. The oil in this recipe replaces butter and makes the carrot cake lovely and moist.
The weight of the carrots used is them peeled. They need to be grated before adding to the cake mixture. This way they are lovely and fine and you aren’t going to get any large uncooked chunks of carrot in your cake.
I used mixed spice, cinnamon and ground ginger in this carrot cake. This combination of spices gives the carrot cake a lovely hint of spice but doesn’t overpower the carrots and walnuts.
The walnuts are completely optional and could be substituted with raisins if you want to make the recipe nut free, or if you just don’t like walnuts.
Baking
The cake needs to be baked in the oven for 35-40 minutes. This is just an advisory time and depending on your oven and a few other factors it could be that your cakes are ready earlier or later than this, so keep an eye on them.
Cooling
Start by letting your cakes cool in their tins, for around 15-20 minutes. Cakes can be quite fragile while they are hot and you don’t want to move them too early and risk them cracking and breaking.
After 15-20 minutes move the cakes onto a cooling rack to cool fully before decorating.
Buttercream
Traditionally, you would decorate a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting but I decided to go against this and decorate mine with vanilla buttercream.
I just find that the buttercream is firmer for stacking the cakes on top of each other. If you do want to make a cream cheese frosting instead of vanilla buttercream head to the alternatives section below for the recipe.
Whenever you are making buttercream you MUST use unsalted butter. The type that typically comes in 250g blocks wrapped in foil.
If you use a baking spread or margarine it won’t be thick enough and your buttercream won’t hold its own shape.
Decorations
To decorate the cake I piped the buttercream on using a 1M Piping tip and added these sugar carrot decorations. They are so cute and perfect for this cake.
In the centre, I added some leftover walnuts but again these are completely optional.
Alternatives
If you would like to make cream cheese frosting for this cake rather than vanilla buttercream just follow these steps. Add 125g of Icing Sugar and 120g of unsalted butter to a large bowl and mix until fully combined and smooth. Add 250g of full-fat soft cream cheese and beat until thick and smooth.
The walnuts in this recipe are completely optional. They could be substituted for another type of nut, raisins or left out completely.
Equipment
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Carrot Cake
Ingredients
For the Carrot Cake
- 200 ml Sunflower Oil
- 5 Large Eggs
- 275 g Light Brown Sugar
- 250 g Grated Carrots
- 125 g Chopped Walnuts (optional)
- 250 g Self-Raising Flour
- 1 tbsp Mixed Spice
- 1 tsp Ginger
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- Zest of 1 Orange
For the Vanilla Buttercream and Decorations
- 400 g Icing Sugar
- 200 g Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3-4 tsp Whole Milk (optional)
- Sugar Carrot Decorations
- Leftover Walnuts
Instructions
To Make the Carrot Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C Fan). Line two 8” cake tins with greaseproof paper and leave to one side.
- Add the oil and eggs to a large bowl and whisk until combined. Add in the sugar and beat until smooth.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix until fully combined.
- Split the mixture equally between your two cake tins and bake in the centre of your pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes. You will know they are ready when they are springy to touch.
- Leave them to cool in the cake tin for 15-20 minutes and then remove and put them on a wire rack to cool fully.
To Make the Buttercream
- Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract together until pale and creamy (around 5 minutes).
- If you find the mixture is a bit thick then add in a teaspoon of milk and mix again repeat until it is the desired consistency.
- Add the buttercream to a large piping bag and leave to one side.
- Place your first cake onto your serving plate or board and pipe the buttercream on top.
- Add the second cake on top and pipe the remaining buttercream onto the cake.
- Decorate with your sugar carrot decorations and any leftover walnuts.
Notes
- This Carrot Cake will last around 3-4 days, stored in an airtight container.
