1. Begin by preheating your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and lining a standard loaf tin.

2. Grate the carrots using a large hole grater before wrapping tightly in a clean tea towel, cheese cloth or similar, and squeezing out the excess liquid.

3. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, combine your dry ingredients (sugar, flours, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and orange zest) and mix thoroughly.

4. Add the eggs, the sunflower oil and the grated carrot to the dry ingredients, mixing by hand until thoroughly combined.

5. Transfer the mixture into the tin and bake for around 50-55 minutes (until the mixture stops bubbling or ‘singing’).

6. Allow the cake to cool in the tin completely.

7. While your cake is cooling, make your buttercream. Begin by creaming your butter until pale and smooth.

8. Add in the icing sugar, a little at a time, ensuring each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next – the orange juice can be added at this point if the mixture is too stiff to work with.

9. Finally, add the orange zest and mix through thoroughly.

10. When your cake is fully cooled, use a piping bag with an open star tip to pipe decorative swirls of buttercream onto the top, before decorating with a sprinkle of freshly chopped pecans.

11. Once the buttercream has set, store in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature.

Every time Mr Baker whips up a batch of his Carrot & Orange Cupcakes, they always go down a storm, so now he has reimagined them into a quick and easy loaf cake you can enjoy whenever you fancy!

Lightly spiced and packed full of flavour, we know you’re absolutely going to love it… but don’t just take our word for it – why not give it a try this week?