Light and fluffy 6-inch Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Carrot cake
- 105 grams (3/4 cup) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 60 grams (1/3 cup) brown sugar
- 15 grams (1 tablespoon) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 80 ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) full fat or whole milk
- 25 grams (1/4 cup) walnuts, finely chopped, optional
- 80 grams (3/4 cup) carrot, peeled and finely grated (approximately 1 large carrot)
Cream cheese frosting
- 200 grams (1 cup) full fat (block-style) cream cheese, softened
- 60 grams (1/2 cup) icing sugar or powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (see notes)
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- Walnuts, for decorating, optional
Instructions
- Small carrot cake
Grease and line one 6-inch round cake pan with baking or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. - In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add oil, vanilla, egg and milk. Mix briefly with a fork just to break up the egg yolk.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, along with the walnuts and carrots. Stir until combined.
- Transfer cake batter to prepared pan. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Leave to cool for 10 minutes, before carefully removing from cake pan and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cream cheese frosting
Add cream cheese to a medium-sized mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. There shouldn’t be any lumps. - Add sugar and maple and beat again until combined and smooth. Finally, stir through lemon zest.
- Use a spatula to spread the frosting on top of the cake. Decorate with walnuts, if desired.
Notes
Walnuts: You can use raw or toasted walnuts. Raw is fine and works well. If you prefer to bump up the flavour, you can toast them. Spread your walnuts out on a baking tray, and bake them in a moderate oven for 5-10 minutes, or until they smell toasty (watch closely so they don’t burn). Alternatively, you can toast them in a medium frying pan over medium heat, shaking the pan regularly. Leave them to cool completely before adding them to your cake batter.
Nut-free: To make this cake nut-free, simply omit the walnuts.
Cream cheese: Where possible, I recommend using block-style cream cheese, rather than the spreadable kind. Also, opt for full fat rather than a light or fat free version.
Maple syrup: If you don’t have any maple syrup on hand, swap it for 1/2 tablespoon of full fat milk or fresh lemon juice.
Make ahead (cake): If you are making the cake ahead of time, wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap and store it in an airtight container at room temperature. Then frost just before serving. Alternatively, you can freeze the cake. Just let it thaw at room temperature before frosting and serving.
Make ahead (frosting): You also make the frosting ahead of time. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge. To serve, let it come back to room temperature, then add a little milk and beat it briefly with an electric mixer (or give it a good stir by hand) until it’s nice and creamy again.
