Carrot cake

Description

Ingredients

175g light muscovado sugar
175ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
140g grated carrot (about 3 medium)
100g raisins
1 large orange, zested
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)

For the frosting

175g icing sugar
1½-2 tbsp orange juice

Method

STEP 1

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment.
STEP 2

Tip the sugar, sunflower oil and eggs into a big mixing bowl. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the carrots, raisins and orange zest.
STEP 3

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into the bowl. Mix everything together, the mixture will be soft and almost runny.
STEP 4

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 mins or until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre.
STEP 5

Cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point if you want to serve it at a later date.)
STEP 6

Beat the icing sugar and orange juice in a small bowl until smooth – you want the icing about as runny as single cream. Put 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.