Mary Berry's 'sunshine cake' contains 'hidden' ingredients to add 'texture' and flavour
Reach Daily Express May 07, 2025 08:39 AM

has shared a plethora of throughout her career, with her ones arguably the most popular. This recipe, dubbed sunshine cake, has few ingredients, and ones you may already have.

The recipe notes said: "This cake is a joy - banana, courgette and carrot are the hidden gems that children will not realise are there. To give added interest and texture, use fresh or dried banana slices for decoration. This is not a deep cake, as it has a closer texture than a plain sponge."

Ingredients:

For the cake:

225g self-raising flour

175g caster sugar

One teaspoon of baking powder

Four free-range eggs

225ml sunflower oil

100g grated carrot

100g banana, mashed

100g grated courgette

75g chewy dried banana slices, broken into pieces

For the icing:

100g butter, softened

100g full-fat cream cheese

One teaspoon of vanilla extract

225g icing sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C or 160C Fan and then grease two loose-bottomed 20cm sandwich cake tins and line the bases with baking paper.

Put the flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl before beating the eggs in a separate bowl. Add the oil, carrot, banana and courgettes to the eggs and stir.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk together until combined. Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, place the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until combined.

Add the vanilla and the icing sugar, whisking until light and fluffy. Once the cake is completely cool, spread half of the icing over one cake.

Sandwich the cakes together, then spread the remaining icing on the top and swirl. Arrange dried banana slices in a ring or spiral pattern on top of the cake.

Cut into slices to serve and enjoy. This cake can be made a day ahead and iced on the day of serving, or the un-iced cake freezes well.

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