Spiced Carrot and Walnut Cake with Cream Cheese Sauce
A tall, warmly spiced carrot cake with toasted walnuts and a soft, moist crumb, served with a cool cream cheese sauce poured over each slice.
- Total
- 1 hr 20 min
- Prep
- 25 min
- Bake
- 55 min
- Level
- Medium
- Serves
- 10
- Tin
- 20 cm springform
The high proportion of carrot, oil and eggs gives this tall cake its close, moist crumb without any added milk or other liquid. Cinnamon, ginger and cloves sit behind the carrot rather than covering it.
Grate the carrots finely and stop mixing once the flour has disappeared. A coarse grate or heavy mixing can leave the crumb uneven around the walnuts.
Ingredients
For one 20 cm springform, serves 10
For the cake
For the cream cheese sauce
You will need
- 20 cm round springform tin
- baking parchment
- large mixing bowl
- medium mixing bowl
- balloon whisk
- rubber spatula
- fine grater
- wire rack
- skewer
Oven
175°C fan 155°C 345°F
Method
Oven 175°C · fan 155°C · 345°F
Prepare the tin and dry ingredients
Heat the oven to 175C, 155C fan. Grease the springform tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in the large bowl and whisk until the spices are evenly scattered through the pale flour with no darker pockets.
Whisk the wet mixture
Put the caster sugar, sunflower oil and eggs in the medium bowl. Whisk until the mixture looks glossy and evenly golden, with no streaks of egg white or loose oil around the edge.
Finish the batter
Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until only a few small flour streaks remain. Add the grated carrots and walnuts, then fold until the batter is thick, orange-flecked and evenly studded with nuts, with no dry flour at the bottom of the bowl.
Fill the tin
Scrape the batter into the lined tin and spread it level, pushing it gently into the edge so there are no hollow gaps. The surface should be thick and even, with fine strands of carrot and pieces of walnut visible throughout.
Bake the cake
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and feels set rather than wet at the centre. A skewer pushed into the middle comes out with a few damp crumbs, and the top springs back.
Cool and release
Leave the cake for 20 minutes in the tin. Release the springform ring, peel away the side parchment and move the cake to a wire rack. It should feel firm around the edge but still slightly tender through the centre, with a warm cinnamon scent.
Make the cream cheese sauce
While the cake cools, beat the cream cheese in a clean bowl until smooth with no firm lumps. Whisk in the icing sugar and vanilla, then add the double cream gradually until the sauce is pale, glossy and loose enough to fall from the whisk in a thick ribbon.
Slice and serve
Let the cake finish cooling before cutting it into wedges. Lift out one slice carefully so the moist crumb and walnut pieces stay intact, then pour the cream cheese sauce over each slice at the table.
Baker's notes
- Finely grated carrot disappears into the crumb more evenly than coarse strands and releases moisture throughout the cake.
- Toast the walnuts before chopping if you want a deeper nut flavour, but let them cool before adding them to the batter.
- The sauce should pour rather than sit like frosting. If it has been chilled, stir it gently before serving until it loosens again.
- Allergens: contains dairy, egg, gluten and walnuts.
Keeping it Keep the cooled cake covered at room temperature for up to one day, or refrigerate it for longer storage and bring slices back towards room temperature before serving. Keep the cream cheese sauce covered in the fridge and serve it separately.
Questions, answered
Can I grate the carrots in a food processor?
Yes, use a fine grating disc and stop once the carrot is evenly shredded. Avoid processing it into a wet pulp, which changes how moisture is distributed through the batter.
Can I use another neutral oil?
Yes. Rapeseed or another mild vegetable oil can replace the sunflower oil without changing the method.
Can I leave out the walnuts?
Yes. The cake will have a slightly softer, more uniform crumb without them, but the batter can be baked in the same tin using the same method.
Can the cake be made a day ahead?
Yes. Cool it fully, cover it well and keep the sauce refrigerated separately. The crumb stays moist, so it slices cleanly the following day.
If it goes wrong
- It sank in the middleSeven causes, told apart by the shape of the crater.
- It came out raw in the centreBrown outside, wet inside, and how to rescue the one you are holding.
- The caramel seizedIt is almost always fixable. The lump re-melts.
