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A photo of the carrot cake traybake with a slice cut. The cake is sat on a wooden board. In the background are a white jug and dried flowers for decoration.

Easy Carrot Cake Tray Bake with Banana (no egg)

5 from 12 votes
A classic cake baked into a traybake for easy slicing, this Easy Carrot Cake Traybake with Banana is moist, rich and simple to make. Perfect for parties and afternoon tea.
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American, British
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 16
Calories: 285kcal
Author: Rebecca Foxley

Ingredients
 
 

  • 85 g Sultanas
  • 1 Orange, Juice Only
  • 85 g Plain White Flour, All purpose flour
  • 85 g Plain Wholemeal Flour, All purpose flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda, Baking Soda
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Mixed Spice
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 170 g Light Brown Soft Sugar
  • 125 ml Sunflower Oil
  • 2 Small Bananas
  • 170 g Carrots, Grated
  • 55 g Walnuts

For the Topping:

  • 100 g Cream Cheese
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 230 g Icing Sugar, Confectioners Sugar
  • 10 g Crushed Pistachios , optional
  • 5 g Freeze-dried Strawberry pieces, optional

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F.
  • Place the sultanas and the juice from the orange into a saucepan and heat gently over a low heat for 2 minutes. Set aside and leave to cool.
  • Sift together the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices in a bowl and mix in the light brown sugar.
  • Mash the bananas well and mix with the oil.
  • Add the oil and bananas to the dry ingredients and mix to form a cake batter.
  • Crush the walnuts into small chunks.
  • Finely grate the carrots, ensuring that the weight stated above is the final grated weight. Fold into the batter along with the crushed walnuts, sultanas and what is left of the orange juice in the pan.
  • Line and grease a 20x25cm (8x10inch) rectangle baking tin.
  • Pour the batter into the tin and using a spatula, spread the batter out evenly.
  • Place into the hot oven on the middle shelf and bake for 30-40 minutes.
  • Sometimes the tray bake may need a little longer to cook depending on your oven. To check that it is ready, pierce the centre of the cake with a knife and if it comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven. If it comes out with wet batter stuck to it, give it a little longer to bake and check regularly.
  • Once baked, remove the traybake from the oven and lift it out of the tin. Place it on a cooling rack to cool completely.
  • To make the cream cheese frosting, whisk together the cream cheese, along with the vanilla extract and icing sugar. Start slowly and increase the speed once everything is incorporated.
  • Mix the ingredients together until the frosting becomes creamy and smooth. If the frosting is runny, add a little more icing sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
  • Once the cake has cooled, spread the top of it with the frosting and decorate with crushed pistachios and freeze dried strawberry pieces.

Video

Recipe Notes

 
  • Grate the carrots as finely as possible. 
  • Leave the cream cheese icing off until you are ready to serve. 
  • If the frosting is too runny, leave it in the fridge for half an hour and then add more icing sugar if it's still too runny after chilling.
  • You can freeze both the cake and frosting separately. 
  • You can make this recipe vegan; simply swap out the cream cheese for a vegan alternative, everything else can stay the same. 

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 285kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 199mg | Potassium: 216mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 1890IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 1mg