Mary Berry’s carrot cake recipe is easy to follow and keeps things straightforward, so you can enjoy the delicious results without any issues. When made according to the instructions, it serves up to eight people, so there’s plenty to go around when having guests over. This recipe from Mary Berry's Cookery Course can be prepared in as little as 15 minutes and bakes up beautifully in just 35 minutes.

Sharing it online, the food blog loveFOOD recommended: “For Mary Berry's carrot and walnut cake recipe, it’s important to use full-fat cream cheese for the icing (we recommend Philadelphia). If you use a low-fat version, the icing will just run off the cake. Carrot cake is beautifully moist, so keeps well. If your kitchen is warm, store the cake in the fridge.”

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C (fan 160C), 350F, or gas mark four. Grease two 20cm (eight-inch) round sandwich pans with a generous coating of butter or oil, and line the bottoms with baking paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients required for the cake batter. Once mixed, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans.

Place the cakes in the oven and bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until they are golden brown, have risen, and are pulling away from the edges of the pans. Once baked, remove the cakes from the oven and set them on a wire rack to cool.

To make the frosting, add the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla extract into a mixing bowl. Use either a hand whisk or an electric mixer to beat the ingredients together until smooth and fully incorporated.

Once the cakes have cooled, spread half of the frosting onto one cake layer, then place the second cake layer on top. Spread the remaining frosting on top of the stacked cakes, creating a swirl effect.

Finally, garnish the cake with the halved walnuts, arranging them nicely and symmetrical on the surface to create a pattern.