Carrot cake comes out the oven fluffier if you add 1 ingredient to the mixing bowl

Carrot cake is delicious, but it can be disappointing if it emerges from the oven soggy or sunken – however, there's a straightforward recipeto bake it perfectly.

If your carrot cake turns out greasy and overly wet, Sally McKenney, a baker and founder of Sally's Baking Addiction, has revealed it's "pretty easy" to remedy as long as you incorporate applesauce into the mixture.

She explained: "To prevent the cake from tasting too moist (wet) and oily, I add some applesauce. You could even use crushed pineapple, too! These flavours pair beautifully with brown sugar and spices."

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It might sound unusual, but apple sauce serves as a replacement for fat and will provide the correct level of moisture to a cake without needing an excessive quantity of butter or oil.

Apple sauce also functions as a binding ingredient, holding the dry components together so the bake will rise higher and have no risk of sinking whilst cooking, reports the Express.

However, if your carrot cake emerges dry and crumbly, then the solution is to incorporate more brown sugar into your cake mixture.

Sally said: "I've come across a lot of carrot cake recipes that are sweetened with mostly granulated sugar. That's great, but granulated sugar doesn't do much for the cake besides sweeten it. Brown sugar not only sweetens cake, it produces so much flavour and moisture. It's just... the best!".

Brown sugar contains molasses, which will alter the texture of the cake as it introduces more moisture whilst it's baking in the oven, making it more tender and preventing it from drying out. The beauty of brown sugar is that it enhances the taste, giving a richer and more caramel-like flavour, which pairs perfectly with the natural sweetness of carrots.

Carrot cake recipe Ingredients For the cake

• 260g of grated carrots (about 4 large carrots)
• 300g of light or dark muscovado sugar
• 100g of caster sugar
• 240ml of vegetable oil (or sunflower oil, or melted coconut oil)
• Four large eggs
• 130g smooth, unsweetened applesauce
• One teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 300g of plain flour
• Two teaspoons of baking powder
• One teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• One and a half teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• One teaspoon of ground ginger
• A quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• A quarter teaspoon of teaspoon ground cloves

To make the cream cheese frosting

• 450g of full-fat cream cheese
• 115g of unsalted butter.
• 480g of icing sugar
• One and a half teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Method

To start, preheat your oven to 180C. Grease two cake tins and line them with baking paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil eggs, vanilla extract and applesauce. Stir until there are no lumps of brown sugar left.

In another mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Also, throw in the spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves) and stir until well mixed.

Pour the first sugary mixture into the dry ingredients with the spices. Add the grated carrots and fold everything together until it's all combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the cake tins and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. To check if they're done, insert a toothpick into the centre of the cakes.

If it comes out clean, they're ready.

Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool completely in the tins. Ensure they're fully cooled before you start on the frosting.

For the frosting, put the cream cheese and butter into a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth, then add the sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

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Combine all the ingredients until you achieve a creamy consistency. If the frosting is too runny, add more sugar; if it's too thick, add milk; or if it's overly sweet, add a bit more salt.

Spread the frosting on top of both cakes, sandwich them together and use any leftover frosting to adorn the sides of the cake.

Your delicious cake is now ready to be served.