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Carrot Cake Traybake Recipe
The UK’s classic carrot cake transformed into a delicious traybake! In my somewhat biased opinion, this is one of the BEST cakes you’ll ever eat. Here’s how I make it!
Picture this… an incredibly moist and light sponge, perfectly flavoured with freshly grated carrots and a blend of warm spices such as cinnamon and ground ginger. But wait, there’s more!
This tasty sponge is topped with an irresistible layer of cream cheese frosting and completed with a sprinkling of diced walnuts for that extra oomph. Doesn’t this sound like pure bliss to you?
As it’s made in a traybake tin, not only does this carrot cake taste amazing, but it’s also a lot quicker and easier to make than the usual tiered or sandwiched versions. That’s why I think it’s a great treat to make throughout the year, not just at Easter.
This recipe has been tried and tested on my family and friends, and they love it just as much as I do. The flavours work amazingly well, and it looks delicious too.
The Tin Size I Used
When making traybake cakes, I most certainly always use a 9″ square baking tin (23 x 23 cm). With this tin size I get around 16 chunky cake slices, but you can cut the slices smaller or bigger if you wish.
Alternatively, you can also opt for a more rectangular baking tin as mine is quite square.
Watch How To Make It
Recipe Ingredients
Below are the few ingredients needed to make this recipe:
- Flour: I always use self-raising flour to make cakes, this is what helps it to rise. Bicarbonate of soda is also added to this recipe.
- Oil: My go-to choice is sunflower oil, though you can use vegetable oil or any mild-flavoured oil. Some people like to use olive oil, though it has more of a stronger taste.
- Carrots: Fresh carrots are best for this recipe, though I’ve noticed that some supermarkets sell grated carrots. While I haven’t tried it myself, it could be a time-saving alternative.
- Sugar: I prefer using light brown sugar in this recipe as it adds moistness and a caramelised flavour. If you prefer a darker cake colour, you can opt for dark brown sugar or use a combination of both for a richer tone.
- Eggs: I used 4 medium eggs left at room temperature (for ease of mixing into the sugar and oil).
- Spices & Flavourings: To achieve the classic carrot cake flavour, I add vanilla extract, cinnamon, grated orange zest, mixed spice, and ground ginger to this recipe.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: To make the frosting, I whisked icing sugar, butter, vanilla extract and cream cheese together. The frosting is then topped with a sprinkling of diced walnuts just like Mary Berry’s carrot cake traybake!
How To Make Carrot Cake Traybake
Below is a step-by-step guide on how I made this carrot cake traybake. Full recipe instructions are on the recipe card:
Step One:
Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C Fan, gas mark 4) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Whilst the oven is preheating, grate your carrots and zest the peel of one orange.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sunflower oil, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs until combined. This takes me roughly 30 seconds.
Add grated carrots and orange zest to the bowl and whisk together until evenly distributed.
Step Two:
Pour flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ground ginger and mixed spice to the mixing bowl and mix together.
Step Three:
Pour the carrot cake mixture into your lined baking tin and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and comes out clean with a skewer. Once baked, set aside to cool down.
Note: Cooking times may vary! When the cake is no longer wobbly in the middle, it’s cooked!
Step Four:
Add butter to a large mixing bowl, use an electric whisk to whisk the butter until it looks light, and the texture is fluffy. Pour the icing sugar into the mixing bowl and whisk again until evenly distributed.
Add cream cheese and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and whisk together until evenly combined and any bumps have smoothed out.
Step Five:
After the cake has cooled down, spread the frosting over the cake and sprinkle diced walnuts on top. Feel free to add other decorations of your choice; I personally love adding mini carrot cake icing for an extra touch.
My Top Tips
When making the cream cheese frosting, be cautious not to over-whisk the mixture, as this can cause the fats in the cream cheese to curdle and separate, resulting in a lumpy and grainy texture. To avoid this, whisk the butter and icing sugar separately, then add the cream cheese, stopping the whisking process as soon as it comes together.
If you want to make this cake ahead of time, you can make the sponge the day before serving and the icing on the day. This way, the icing stays fresher for longer, especially since cream cheese is used to make it.
I like to line my parchment paper over the sides of the baking tin, this makes removing the cake so much easier as the excess parchment paper works as handles.
If you want to thicken the icing texture, simply add a little more icing sugar to it.
How To Store
As we’ve decorated this cake with cream cheese frosting, any leftovers need to be kept in the fridge. When making the cake, check the use by date of the cream cheese you are using, you want it to be as fresh as possible. Eat within 2 to 3 days.
If you’ve left the cake undecorated, then you don’t need to store it in the fridge. You can simply wrap the cake in clingfilm and store it in an airtight container at room temperature and eat within 3 to 5 days.
Recipe Variations
To decorate this carrot cake, I sprinkled chopped nuts and added a few dashes of carrot cake icing on some slices (as you can see from my pictures). However, you don’t have to stick with this decoration idea. Feel free to get creative and add grated chocolate, chocolate bunnies, or even change the type of icing entirely—it’s really up to you!
I’ve skipped adding chopped nuts or walnuts to my carrot cake filling, but feel free to include them in your traybake if you like extra texture in your cake.
You can change the shape, such as making carrot cake muffins or cupcakes by using cupcake cases. If you use buttercream icing, there’s no need to store it in the fridge.
More Traybake & Cake Recipes
Carrot Cake Traybake (With Frosting)
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Traybake
- 300 g Self-Raising Flour
- 250 ml Sunflower Oil
- 250 g Grated Carrots
- 250 g Light Brown Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Orange Zest
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Mixed Spice
- ½ tsp Ground Ginger
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 200 g Icing Sugar
- 200 g Cream Cheese
- 70 g Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 50 g Chopped Walnuts (Handful To Decorate)
Instructions
Carrot Cake Traybake
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C Fan, gas mark 4) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Whilst the oven is preheating, grate your carrots and zest the peel of one orange.250 g Grated Carrots, 1 Orange Zest
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sunflower oil, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs until combined. This takes me roughly 30 seconds. Add grated carrots and orange zest to the bowl and whisk together until evenly distributed.250 ml Sunflower Oil, 250 g Light Brown Sugar, 4 Eggs, 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Pour flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ground ginger and mixed spice to the mixing bowl and mix together.300 g Self-Raising Flour, 1 tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda, 2 tsp Cinnamon, 1 tsp Mixed Spice, ½ tsp Ground Ginger
- Pour the carrot cake mixture into your lined baking tin and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and comes out clean with a skewer. Once baked, set aside to cool down.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add butter to a large mixing bowl, use an electric whisk to whisk the butter until it looks light, and the texture is fluffy. Pour the icing sugar into the mixing bowl and whisk again until evenly distributed. (See Notes For Tips)70 g Butter, 200 g Icing Sugar
- Add cream cheese and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and whisk together until evenly combined and any bumps have smoothed out.200 g Cream Cheese, 1 tsp Vanilla
- After the cake has cooled down, spread the frosting over the cake and sprinkle diced walnuts on top. Feel free to add other decorations of your choice; I personally love adding mini carrot cake icing for an extra touch.50 g Chopped Walnuts
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Music in video from Uppbeat, License code: 08VBCZFHCZBZDBBY
Rosemary Bowes
Can vegetable oil be used?
Michelle
Hi Rosemary, yes you can use vegetable oil!