• 350 ml vegetable oil
• 6 eggs
• 350g brown sugar
• 280g carrots, grated
• Zest of 2 oranges
• 350g self-raising flour
• 1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp mixed spice
• 1 drop vanilla extract
• 300g icing sugar
• 40g butter
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 75g soft cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line the bases of two sandwich tins
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together oil, eggs, sugar, carrots and orange zest.
3. Mix in flour, bicarb, vanilla and mixed spice.
4. Fill up the tins 2/3 of the way  (you may have extra left) and pop in the oven to bake for 40-45 mins, when the sponge springs back when pressed lightly.
5. If you have mixture left, put some muffin cases in a muffin tin and fill them 2/3 of the way up. These will only take 20 minutes in the oven.
6. Leave to cool in the tine for 10 mins, then turn on to a cooling rack. Peel off the paper and leave to cool fully.
7. In a bowl, mix icing sugar with butter and orange juice and whisk to combine. Stir in the soft cheese.
8. Sandwich the cakes with half of the icing and half for the top. Remember, you may need to save some for your extra cup cakes.

I have had people who don’t like carrot cake saying that this was a recipe they liked.

You can make the consistency of the icing as runny or as stiff as you prefer, or, alternately, use lemon juice instead of orange.