Mary Berry’s Carrot Cake

  • Type : Dessert

Mary’s very kindly adapted her famous Carrot Cake recipe to be made in her new 23cm square tin. An afternoon tea classic, it’s absolutely delicious, although it does sound healthier than it really is!

Ingredients

  • For the sponge
  • 350g self-raising flour 
  • 1 level tsp baking powder 
  • 225g light muscovado sugar 
  • 75g chopped walnuts 
  • 150g grated carrots 
  • ripe bananas mashed
  • large eggs 
  • 225ml sunflower oil 
  • For the topping
  • 250g full-fat soft cheese 
  • 75g softened butter 
  • 150g sifted icing sugar 
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
  • A handful walnut halves to decorate

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Grease a 23cm (9 inch) deep square cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.
  2. Measure all the ingredients for the cake into a large bowl and beat well until thoroughly blended and smooth. Turn into the prepared tin and level the surface.
  3. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 1 hour until the cake is well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.
  4. For the topping, measure all the ingredients, except the walnuts, into a bowl or into a food processor, and blitz until smooth. Spread over the top of the cake with a spatula and decorate the top with the walnut halves. Chill a little before serving and store in the fridge as the topping is soft.
  5. Recipe adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible