An adaption of a recipe I found on the internet - I wanted a nut free cake, plus the original recipe had orange juice/rind (2 oranges) or  1tbsp marmalade but I knew of one person with a citrus allergy so I missed that out too.

400g margarine

700g sugar (I used golden caster suger)

4 large eggs

1kg carrots, grated (the finer you grate them the tidier it is to cut later)

150g dried fruit (and/or nuts)

2tsp vanilla extract

500g plain flour

4tsp bicarbonate of soda

2tsp mixed spice, although a mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg works very well too.

2tsp salt.

Preheat oven to 180C/Gas mark 4

Grease and line the bottom of a 11″ or 12 square cake tin - mine was adjustable with removable sides which made releasing the cake very easy.

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in eggs one at a time - if the mixture looks quite liquid after 3 eggs, don’t use the last one.  Fold in the grated carrot and fruit/nuts and add the vanilla essence.  Fold in sifted flour, bicarb, spice and salt - mix well and pour into prepared tin.

Cook for about an hour, the sides of the cake should come away from the tin and a skwer inserted into the centre should come out clean - it may need a little longer at a slightly lower temperature, mine tended to take about 1hr 20 at about 170C, otherwise the top burnt over that time - although I have a fan oven.

Thats about it - its good on its own cut into squares, or can be butter iced, fondant iced etc.  its almost flat enough to stack one on top of another and fondant ice without any trimming.

Related Post