Carrot or Passion Cake

Ingredients

For the cake

• 175ml vegetable oil
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 RSPCA Assured eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 100g walnut pieces, chopped
• 225g carrots, grated
• 30g desiccated coconut
• 175g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt

For the frosting

• 60g soft butter
• 100g full-fat cream cheese
• ½ tsp vanilla essence
• 150g icing sugar sifted
• 16 walnut halves

Cooking Method

For the cake

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180⁰C / fan oven 160⁰ C / Gas Mark 4

Step 2: Line a 20cm square cake tin with greaseproof paper

Step 3: Beat together the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla essence and add in the chopped walnuts, grated carrots and desiccated coconut

Step 4: Mix everything together into an oily mixture and stir well. Then sift the dry ingredients and fold them into the mixture

Step 5: Pour everything into the cake tin and bake in the oven for approximately 50 minutes, until firm to the touch. You can test your cake by inserting a knife into the centre and checking it comes out clean

Step 6: Leave your cake to cool for ten minutes then turn it out onto a rack to cool completely

For the frosting

Step 1: Meanwhile, beat the butter until soft then mix in the cream cheese

Step 2: Once smooth, add the vanilla essence and the icing sugar and beat together until smooth

Step 3: Once the cake is completely cool, spread the icing over the top with a palette knife.

Step 4: Cut into 16 squares and decorate each with a walnut half.