Carrot Cake with Browned-Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Carrot cake is comfort baking at its best: damp, deeply spiced and forgiving. The twist here is in the frosting. Instead of plain cream cheese, the butter is browned first, lending a toasty, almost butterscotch note that flatters the cinnamon in the sponge. A scatter of candied walnuts on top adds glassy crunch against the soft crumb.

1 Ingredients

Serves 12.

250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
0.25 tsp ground nutmeg
0.5 tsp fine salt
300g soft light brown sugar
4 medium eggs
300ml sunflower oil
300g carrots, finely grated
100g walnuts, roughly chopped
100g caster sugar (for the candied walnuts)
100g unsalted butter (for the frosting)
300g full-fat cream cheese, cold
150g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Method

Heat the oven to 170C fan and line two 20cm sandwich tins.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt in a large bowl.
In a second bowl, whisk the brown sugar, eggs and oil until smooth, then fold in the grated carrots and chopped walnuts.
Combine the wet and dry mixtures gently, divide between the tins and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool completely in the tins, then turn out.
For the candied walnuts, melt the caster sugar in a dry pan over a medium heat until amber. Stir through a handful of walnut halves, tip onto baking paper and leave to set, then break into shards.
Brown the butter in a small pan over a medium heat, swirling, until it smells nutty and the milk solids turn golden. Pour into a bowl and chill until solid but still soft.
Beat the browned butter with the icing sugar and vanilla until pale, then add the cold cream cheese and beat just until smooth. Do not overwork it or it will loosen.
Sandwich the cooled sponges with a third of the frosting, then cover the top and sides with the rest. Crown with the candied walnut shards before serving.

3 The Story

Carrot cake belongs to a long tradition of using vegetables to sweeten and moisten baked goods, a practical habit that stretches back to medieval European cooks who prized carrots for their natural sugar when other sweeteners were scarce and expensive. The cake as it is known today, plush with oil and warm spices, became a fixture in American home baking through the twentieth century and travelled comfortably across the Atlantic, where it sits happily alongside the British love of a moist, spiced tray bake.

Olive Oil Lemon Drizzle Cake with Thyme

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Lemon drizzle is a teatime classic, but this loaf swaps butter for fruity extra-virgin olive oil, giving a remarkably moist, tender crumb that stays fresh for days. The twist beyond the oil is a whisper of fresh thyme rubbed into the sugar, which adds a subtle, savoury, herbal note that flatters the lemon rather than overpowering it. A tart sugar drizzle soaked into the warm cake provides that signature crunchy, zingy top. It is elegant enough for guests yet simple enough for a quiet afternoon.

Cake - Tag - vo.rs

Carrot Cake with Browned-Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

1 Ingredients

2 Method

3 The Story

Olive Oil Lemon Drizzle Cake with Thyme