We've seen many different variations of carrot cake over the years but we loved the sound of this recipe from Neven Maguire that used Irish oats.
This interesting recipe for a carrot cake is very simple and has a wonderful looking end result. Give it a go - you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Carrot Cake with Oat Topping
Cake Ingredients
- 100g (3½ oz) Organic Porridge Oats
- 50g (1¾ oz) chopped walnuts/pecans
- 200g (7 oz) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 200g (7 oz) grated carrot
- 125g (4¼ oz) vegetable oil
- 125g (4¼ oz) self-raising flour
- pinch of salt
Icing Ingredients
- 50g (1¾ oz) butter
- 75g (2½ oz) icing sugar
- 50g (1¾ oz) cream cheese
- orange zest
Topping Ingredients
- 50g (1¾ oz) Flahavan’s Jumbo Organic Oats
- 25g (1 oz) honey
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- orange segments
Cooking and Serving Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas mark 4).
- Blitz the porridge oats in a food processor for approximately 1 minute until they are quite fine.
- Add all the other ingredients and blitz well.
- Pour the mixture into a 2lb loaf tin lined with parchment.
- Bake in the oven for 1- 1¼ hours – lowering the temperature if baking too quickly.
- Allow to cool.
For the Icing:
- Beat the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and orange zest together in a bowl and spread over the cooled cake.
For the Jumbo Oats Topping:
- Put the jumbo oats into a bowl. Add the sunflower oil and honey and mix well.
- Spread on a baking tray lined with parchment.
- Bake at 150°C (300°F/Gas mark 2) for approximately 15 minutes until golden brown.
- Sprinkle over the iced carrot cake and decorate with orange segments.
Tip: The toasted jumbo oats can be stored in an airtight container and are delicious sprinkled over stewed fruit or added to yogurt.
Recipe courtesy of Flahavans and Neven Maguire 
