Dairy-free carrot cake recipe

Made with sunflower oil instead of butter this dairy-free carrot cake will soon become a family favourite. Mashed banana as well as grated carrots help to keep the cake lovely and moist. It will keep for several days in a cake tin but it also freezes well. Freeze un-iced and then add the topping once it has defrosted. It’s a great cake for picnics, lunch boxes and parties and is always popular. If you’re baking for summer fetes or cake sales this will go down a treat and is really easy to make.

Ingredients

• 200g self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1tsp ground mixed spice
• 100g light muscovado
• 50g chopped walnuts plus extra to decorate
• 2 eggs
• 1 large or 2 small ripe bananas
• 100g coarsely grated carrots
• 100ml sunflower oil

For the topping:

• 100g dairy-free spread
• 150g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Fan 160°C/Gas Mark 4. Grease a 23cm square cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Sift the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a bowl.
2. Add the sugar, walnuts and eggs. Mash the bananas and add to the bowl with carrots and oil. Beat well with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed.
3. Pour into the cake tin, level the surface and bake for 40-50 mins until firm to the touch. Cool in the tin for 5 mins before turning out and cooling completely on a wire rack.
4. For the topping, beat together the dairy-free spread, icing sugar and vanilla extract until soft and smooth. If the mixture is too stiff add a little boiling water from the kettle and beat again until soft. Spread over the cake, sprinkle with chopped walnuts and cut into squares or fingers.