The weather has been a lot cooler this last week and we have been cooking up a variety of warming recipes. This carrot cake loaf is packed with all the flavours of the season ahead. Freshly grated carrots, moist sponge but not too oily and a good dose of cinnamon and mixed spice. The kitchen cooking smells were amazing and it counts as one of your five a day right?
This delicious carrot cake loaf is an essential family recipe for the cost Autumn season ahead. It’s also a lovely recipe to use up any carrots in your garden. The kids loved this carrot cake and it didn’t last much longer than a day but you could also make it up in a traybake style of tin instead and make carrot cake bars.
Similiar Recipes – Carrot Cake Steamed Pudding : Rhubarb White Chocolate Cake Bars : Upside Down Rhubarb Cake :
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Your going to love this recipe because…
This delicious carrot cake loaf is the perfect recipe to make at the start of Autumn with all of the lovely warming spices and freshly grated carrots.
This recipe is a lovely treat for the family and fills the kitchen with the delicious spicy flavours of the colder months.
Carrot Cake Loaf is a lovely treat to pull out with a cup of afternoon tea and would be delicious sliced on an afternoon tea cake stand.
Try baking this towards the end of Summer or early Autumn. It’s the perfect way to bring in the colder Autumn months ahead.
It’s not oily like a traditional carrot cake and uses butter instead. I’m not a fan of the oily carrot cakes and the butter creates a lighter texture in my opinion.
If you like the sound of this delicious recipe your going to love some fo my other favourite bakes in the Autumn months. I love the Toffee and Apple Parsnip Cake its a lovely recipe to make with the many apples available in the Autumn months. I also enjoy making the lovely Apple Cider Clootie Dumpling its a traditional Scottish recipe with an Autumn twist. Both are lovely recipes to try making family and friends.
Tips for making this delicious recipe…
Use freshly grated carrots for this recipe. I like to sit the mixing bowl on the scales and grate straight into the bowl them gently fold them through with the chopped walnuts.
Thsi cake is so light and fluffy you want to wait until it is cool before slicing it up otherwise it can crumble. My boys dug straight in and almost destroyed it lol! Make sure it is cool before you ice it too.
This cake could probably be frozen before icing. I haven’t tried it but I don’t see any reason why not.
Due to the light texture of this cake it doesn’t travel too well so I wouldn’t go making it for a picnic.
You cuold make this recipe into a bar shape instead of the loaf by cooking i tin a traybake style of tray. Be sure to check the cooking time though as it might be a lot quicker than the hour it takes for this loaf.
If you enjoy Scottish recipes your going to love my Scottish cookbooks available now on my website. All inspired by either the traditional dishes of Scotland, the Scottish seasons or Scottish food culture. Click the image link above or below to bring a taste of Scotland into your kitchen!
Carrot Cake Loaf Recipe
Carrot Cake Loaf
Equipment
- 1 1lb Loaf Tin I used a silicone one
Ingredients
- 225g Soft Butter
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 100g Brown Sugar
- 3 Eggs Medium
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Pinch of Salt
- 225g Self Raising Flour
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Mixed Spice
- 3 tbsp Whole Milk only required if mixture is too stiff
- 4 Medium Carrots (approx 200g) Grated
- 60g Chopped Walnuts
- 4 tbsp Cream Cheese
- Icing Sugar
- Whole Milk to thin the icing if too thick
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C (fan) and grease up a 1lb loaf tin. I like my silicone tin.
- Add the soft butter, caster sugar and brown sugar together in a bowl and mix with a handheld mixer until nice and creamy.
- Add in the eggs, vanilla, pinch of salt, self raising flour, cinnamon and mixed spice and mix through well with the hand held mixer or stand mixer.
- Add in 3tbsp of milk if it is too thick. You should have a nice thick cake batter consistency but not too stiff.
- Grate in the carrots until you have approx 200g in weight and add in the chopped walnuts.
- Fold the mixture through well and spoon into your prepared loaf tin.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 1 hour. After an hour pop a cake pin through the cake to check its not sticky in the middle and if it comes out clear remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool.
- Add the cream cheese to a bowl and add in enough icing sugar to create a thick icing for the top. Keep mixing through and adding in sugar until nice and stiff. If you go too far add in a little milk. You want something that spreads easily.
- Leave to harden slightly and serve.
If you enjoyed this recipe you may also enjoy the lovely Aberdeenshire Mealie Bannocks or the Scottish Cheddar Cheese Loaf. I do have a soft spot for the lovely Orkney Cheddar Cheese Pinwheels made with Orkney Cheddar. They are delicious!
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