Mary Berry’s one-bowl carrot cake

Super easy and quick. You can whip up this carrot cake in less than an hour, and it stays fresh in the fridge for days. “Always popular, this American carrot cake needs to be stored in the fridge because of the mascarpone topping.”

Ingredients
For the cake
225g SR flour
2 tsp BP
150g light muscovado sugar
50g chopped walnut pieces
100g coarsely grated carrots
2 mashed ripe bananas
2 eggs
150ml sunflower oil
For the topping
250g mascarpone cheese
Two tsp vanilla extract
Two Tab icing sugar, sifted
25g chopped walnut pieces

1.  First, get your cake tin ready by greasing it & putting baking paper at the bottom. Turn on your oven to 160°C (FF) . Mary says an electric whisk is best, but a spoon works too. When everything is well combined, pour the mixture into your cake tin and smooth the top for a nice even bake.

2.  Bake in preheated oven about 50 mins until well-risen, golden & starting to pull away from the tin sides. You can check by poking a thin skewer into middle of the cake – it should come out clean.
Let the cake cool down in the tin for a bit before you loosen the sides and turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

3.  For the topping, mix the mascarpone cheese with the vanilla extract and icing sugar in a small bowl. Spread this mixture evenly over the top of the cooled cake and sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top. Remember to keep the cake in the fridge.

 

Banana Date Pancakes

MAKES: 8

1½ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp caster sugar
1 cup milk
2 extra large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
8 Pitted Dates, finely sliced
Additional banana, blueberries and honey for serving

1. Combine flour, baking powder and sugar in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and mashed banana. Add to flour mixture with dates and mix until smooth.

2. Pre-heat a frying pan over medium heat, lightly spray with olive oil or brush with butter.
Spoon ¼ cup measures of batter into pan and cook for several minutes until bubbles appear and base is golden. Turn over and cook a further 1-2 minutes.

3. Serve pancakes with sliced bananas, blueberries and a drizzle of honey.