These mini carrot cake squares are packed with delicious ingredients like mixed spince, bananas and walnuts and topped with cream cheese and orange rind.
Ingredients
- 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
- 2tsp baking powder
- 1tsp ground mixed spice
- 150g (5oz) soft light brown sugar
- 100g (4oz) carrots, grated
- 75g (3oz) walnuts, chopped
- 2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 2 medium eggs
- 150ml (¼ pt) corn or sunflower oil
- 300g tub Philadelphia soft cheese
- 30ml (2tbsp) caster sugar
- Finely grated rind of 1 orange
- 15ml (1tbsp) fresh orange juice
- Shredded orange rind, to decorate
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, gas mark 4). Lightly grease an 18 x 27cm (7 x 10½ in) tin and line with non-stick baking parchment.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and mixed spice into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, carrots, walnuts and banana. Add the eggs and oil, and beat until blended.
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 mins until firm – a skewer inserted into the cake should come out clean. Turn out on to a cooling rack and remove the lining paper. Leave to cool completely.
To make the icing place the cheese, sugar, orange rind and juice in a bowl and beat together until smooth. Spread over the cake and swirl with the back of a spoon. Decorate with orange rind and cut into squares.
Top tip for making Spiced carrot cake squares
Top tip: For extra spice, try adding a cinnamon stick to the mix.
