Carrot Cake Traybake

Ingredients

For the carrot cake

• Soft butter for greasing
• 200 g plain flour
• 1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 200 g soft light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 mixed spice
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• Zest of 1 orange
• 200 g peeled and coarsely grated carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
• 100 g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 200 ml vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs, beaten

For the ricotta frosting

• 250 g tub ricotta
• 100 g soft unsalted butter
• Zest of ½ orange, plus extra to decorate
• 175 g icing sugar
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, picked and finely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 180 ºC (160º Fan) mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm x 30cm x 5cm deep baking tin. In a large mixing bowl, add all the cake ingredients and stir everything together using a large metal spoon or spatula until well combined. Transfer to the lined tin and smooth into the corners.
2. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes until golden, well risen and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. While the cake is in the oven, make the frosting. In a medium mixing bowl add the ricotta, butter, orange zest, icing sugar and half the thyme. Using an electric mixer, beat until well combined and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. The mixture will seem loose at this stage but it will firm up as it chills. Cover and chill the frosting until firmed up slightly, about 1 hour.
4. Once the cake has cooled completely, spread the frosting over it then scatter over the remaining thyme and orange zest to serve.