Gordon Ramsay’s carrot cake is an oil-based sponge with dark brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, mixed spice, and both orange and lemon zest stirred through the batter. Topped with his mascarpone and cream cheese icing. Ready in about an hour.
Ramsay makes this on The F Word with Natasha Kaplinsky, where he says “it’s really important to keep the carrot fairly wet” and uses mascarpone in his icing instead of straight cream cheese. I’ve tested the quantities below to match his method: oil not butter, dark brown sugar sifted smooth, and bicarb for the rise.
The dual citrus is what makes his version different from every other carrot cake. Orange zest brings warmth while lemon cuts through the sweetness, so the cake tastes bright instead of heavy. No other recipe site mentions both because nobody actually watches the video.
Gordon Ramsay’s Carrot Cake
Course: DessertsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium10
slices20
minutes35
minutes540
kcal55
minutesAdapted from Ramsay’s F Word video. An oil-based carrot cake with his signature dual citrus zest and mascarpone icing with real vanilla seeds. Around 540 kcal per slice and about 50p a portion at current Tesco prices.
Ingredients
- For the cake:
225ml (scant 1 cup) sunflower oil
200g (7 oz) dark brown sugar, sifted
3 large eggs
250g (9 oz) plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
Pinch of salt
300g (10½ oz) carrots, finely grated
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
- For the mascarpone icing:
125g (4½ oz) mascarpone
200g (7 oz) full-fat cream cheese
30g (1 oz) butter, melted
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
100g (3½ oz) icing sugar, sifted
Directions
- Preheat: Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan / Gas 4 / 350°F). Grease and line two 20cm round cake tins.
- Mix wet ingredients: Whisk the oil and sifted dark brown sugar together in a large bowl until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each.
- Combine dry ingredients: Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, mixed spice, and salt into a separate bowl.
- Fold together: Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Stir in the grated carrots, orange zest, and lemon zest. Keep the batter fairly wet as Ramsay advises.
- Bake: Divide the batter between the two tins and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the icing: Beat the mascarpone and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the melted butter, vanilla seeds, and sifted icing sugar. Beat until thick and spreadable. Ramsay uses a piping hot palette knife for a smooth, thin finish.
- Assemble: Spread half the icing over one cake layer. Place the second cake on top and spread the remaining icing over the top and sides.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay use oil instead of butter in his carrot cake?
Oil stays liquid at room temperature while butter solidifies, which is why oil-based cakes stay moist for days and butter cakes dry out overnight. Ramsay uses oil in the F Word video and never reaches for butter for the sponge itself, only for the icing.
This is the same reason his banana bread stays soft for so long. The fat coats the flour proteins and traps moisture in the crumb. If you’ve ever had a carrot cake that went dry by day two, it was probably made with butter.
Why does Ramsay add both orange and lemon zest?
This is his twist that no other recipe site mentions. In the F Word video, he zests an entire orange and an entire lemon directly into the batter. Orange zest brings a warm, sweet citrus note while lemon cuts through the brown sugar and spice, so the cake tastes bright instead of cloying.
Most carrot cake recipes skip citrus entirely or add only orange juice. Ramsay uses the zest, not the juice, because zest delivers the essential oils without adding liquid that would change the batter consistency. His apple tarte tatin uses the same principle: fruit flavour from zest and skin, not juice.
Why mascarpone in the icing instead of just cream cheese?
In the F Word video, Ramsay uses mascarpone alongside cream cheese, melted butter, and seeds scraped from a real vanilla pod. The mascarpone is richer and smoother than cream cheese alone, so the icing feels like silk rather than that slightly grainy tang you get from pure cream cheese frosting.
He finishes with what he calls “a piping hot palette knife” to get a thin, even layer. His tiramisu uses the same mascarpone principle: it’s there for texture, not flavour. The vanilla seeds do the flavour work.
What did Ramsay say about carrot cake on Kitchen Nightmares?
On the Buzzini’s episode in Ridgewood, New Jersey, Ramsay hated everything the chef cooked. Then pastry chef Sharon brought out her carrot cake and he said “that is delicious” and “that’s made with passion.” He asked her “you make love to that carrot cake, don’t you?” and told the owners her desserts were fundamental to the restaurant’s survival.
He once summed it up even simpler: “what’s the most important part of a carrot cake? The carrot.” On MasterChef, he also praised contestant Ben Starr’s pumpkin carrot cake, which adds pumpkin puree alongside the grated carrot for extra moisture. His chocolate brownies from Bread Street Kitchen follow the same rule: simple ingredients made with real care beat complicated recipes every time.
Does Ramsay have a healthy carrot cake version?
In Ultimate Fit Food, he has Carrot Cake Macaroons: desiccated coconut, grated carrot, walnuts, egg whites, coconut sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. No flour, no oil, no frosting. 120 kcal per cookie and they taste like carrot cake in biscuit form.
He writes “these are the coconut macaroons of my childhood, updated to taste a lot like carrot cake but without all that frosting.” The coconut replaces flour entirely, so they’re naturally gluten-free too. You’ll find them alongside his other biscuit recipes in the cookie recipes roundup.
