Carrot Cake Traybake with Light Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello! Today, I'm here with a recipe for carrot cake traybake with light cream cheese frosting. It's easy, delicious and brings so much spring vibe into your kitchen!

Carrot cake is one of my favourite treats when I go out for a coffee. But I also like to have it in the comfort of my own home. It's really simple and almost effortless to make!

This recipe is a traybake version (sheet cake). I find it practical and think it will serve you well either if you're having guests over or as a family snack!

Carrots themselves are sweet, however, their natural taste isn't very strong. This is why it's good to add seasonings such as cinnamon and cloves to the batter. They pair quite well with the sweetness of the carrots and also bring more colour to the cake.

Orange extract provides this cake with beautiful citrusy flavour and fragrance.

The rest of the batter is made of typical pantry ingredients such as plain (all-purpose) flour, free-range eggs, baking powder and baking soda.

For the frosting, I use light (low-fat) cream cheese. It keeps its creamy consistency, whilst containing less fat (and less calories). It also contains more water and therefore it gives moisture to the cake, so it won't be dry.

The light cream cheese is whipped together with unsalted butter, orange extract and icing sugar. Feel free to add as much icing sugar as you like - add it in batches and always taste the frosting before adding any more sugar.

The frosting can be topped with decorations: Carrot-shaped sugar decorations will give this cake a super spring look, but sprinkles, orange zest or chopped walnuts are great choices too! Feel free to be creative with what you have in your store cupboard!

Substitutes

Great news! Some of the ingredients in this recipe can be substituted with others without affecting the final result too much.

Swap 1 teaspoon of baking soda for 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder. If you only have baking soda and no baking powder at all, use ½ teaspoon of baking soda extra (that makes 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda in total).

If you only have full-fat cream cheese, use it instead of low-fat one, but remember to use less butter for the frosting (70-80g).

Finally, zest of ½ organic unwaxed orange will make up for 1 teaspoon orange extract. Feel free to make this swap for both the batter and frosting.

How To Store Carrot Cake Traybake With Light Cream Cheese Frosting

This cake will stay fresh (uncovered) in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you can't fit it in your fridge, keep it in a cool spot in your kitchen covered with a tea towel for a maximum of 2 days.

The carrot cake can also be stored frozen. Freeze it in an airtight food container without any frosting or decorations. Defrost in the fridge 8-12 hours before serving. Make fresh frosting just 1 hour before serving and leave it set on the cake for at least 30 minutes.

Looking for more dessert recipes like this? Try these red velvet muffins with cream cheese frosting, apple sponge cake or cherry and almond Madeira cake.