5 ingredient Carrot cake

This is a wonderful simplified version of the classic - this really tastes delicious! To keep it within the 5 ingredients we had to omit the walnuts, raisins and spices that would traditionally be in a carrot cake - we left these down below for you to add if you have them they just give it more character and texture as well as complexity

Takes 55 mins

Serves 12 slices

Ingredients;

400g self raising flour

300g icing/ powdered sugar   

250ml neutral tasting Oil 

200g grated carrot

150ml water 

CREAM CHEESE ICING

450g vegan Cream cheese (for icing)

150g icing sugar 

Optional extras to break out of the 5 ingredients and go more traditional if you like;

100g raisins

100g chopped walnuts

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice 

Method;

• Preheat your oven to 180 degrees fan 
• Grease and line 2 x 20cm (or 8 inch) springform cake tins with baking parchment on the base and sides. We used coconut oil the grease the tins so that the baking parchment stuck.
• In a large mixing bowl, sieve in the self raising flour and icing sugar, add the grated carrot then mix them together. Make a well in the centre. (if you were to add the optional extras you would add them to the dry ingredients here)
• Measure the oil and water and add to the bowl with the flour and sugar ingredients.
• Mix together until they just come together using a spatula or a hand mixer, being careful not to over mix. 
• Split the mixture between the two cake tins and place the preheated oven for 40 minutes rotating half-way through cooking time to ensure they cook evenly. Remove cakes from the oven and set aside, on a rack to cool fully. Check if cooked by placing a skewer in the centre, it should come out clean, if the skewer still has a few crumbs on it just pop the cakes back in the oven and cook a little longer until the skewer comes out dry.
• While the cakes are baking, time to make your frosting (you can leave the cream cheese frosting in the fridge to chill until the cakes are baked and cooled). 
• Add the vegan cream cheese to a bowl and use a fork to mash and to soften so it's easier to mix in the icing sugar. Sift in the icing sugar using a sieve so there are no lumps, use a whisk, and whisk the vegan cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth (you may have to stop once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl to incorporate all the icing sugar. 

• When your two cakes are fully cooled; To assemble the carrot cake, choose the base cake and add half the cream cheese frosting layer to the top of your base cake, gently spreading evenly from the centre, not all the way to the edge, leaving half an inch. Gently place the second cake on top, pressing it down lightly so the filling just comes to the edge. Then add your top layer of frosting to the top of the cake, again working your way from the centre, spreading the frosting to the edge. Add any suggested decoration and serve!
• Enjoy!