Ingredients

• 200ml/7fl oz vegetable oil
• 3 free-range eggs
• 175ml/6fl oz agave syrup (also known as agave nectar)
• 400g/14oz carrots
• peeled and grated
• 275g/9¾oz self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 150g/5½oz sultanas
• 150g/5½oz walnuts pieces
• 1 orange
• finely grated zest only
• 400g/14oz full-fat cream cheese
• 50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
• softened
• 50ml/2fl oz maple syrup
• 25g/1oz walnut pieces
• chopped
• ground cinnamon
• for dusting

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Oil and line 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins.
• Pour the oil into a large mixing bowl with the eggs and agave syrup and beat together. Add the carrots and mix together.
• In a separate bowl
• sieve the flour
• baking powder
• cinnamon and mixed spice together. Add the sultanas
• walnuts and orange zest and stir to coat in the flour.
• Tip the flour mixture into the carrot mixture and stir together gently
• until well combined. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 40 minutes. Cover with aluminium foil after 20-30 minutes to prevent the tops from burning.
• Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes
• then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
• For the frosting
• place the cream cheese in a piece of clean muslin or thin cleaning cloth (such as a J Cloth) and squeeze out any liquid. (This removes the moisture from the cheese so that the frosting isn’t too wet). Place the cream cheese in a bowl and beat until smooth. Add the butter and maple syrup and beat together. Refrigerate until needed.
• Sandwich the sponges together with half of the frosting. Spread a very thin layer of frosting over the top of the cake and spoon the remaining frosting into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm/½in plain nozzle. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the top of the frosting.
• Pipe small kisses of frosting around the edge of the cake and dust with cinnamon.