Recipe of the week: Carrot cake

When you want to have dessert but feel healthy, all roads point to carrot cake. Yes, it’s still fattening, but it’s got carrots in it, so surely it can’t be that bad for you?

Ingredients

175g light muscovado sugar
175ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs, beaten lightly
140g grated carrots (about 3 medium)
100g raisins
grated zest of 1 large orange
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp grated nutmeg
175g icing sugar
1½-2 tbsp orange juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment. The best way to do this is to cut two long strips the width of the tin and put each strip crossways, covering the base and sides of the tin, with a double layer in the base.

2. Tip the sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, raisins and orange rind.

3. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients and stop when everything is evenly combined. The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point.)

5. Beat together the frosting ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Set the cake on a serving plate and drizzle the icing back and forth in diagonal lines over the top, letting it drip down the sides.