Is Marks & Spencer Carrot cake with walnuts ultra-processed?

75 g e Cakes Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Colour
Humectant
Invert sugar
E150a Plain caramel
E415 Xanthan gum
E450 Diphosphates

42 ingredients
5 additives
Nutri-Score E

Less processed cakes

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Wheatflour (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar· Carrots 10%, Free Range Egg, Rapeseed Oil, Dark Brown Sugar· Orange Soaked Raisins 6% (Raisins, Concentrated Orange Juice), Soft Brown Sugar, Full Fat Soft Cheese (processing marker), Butter (processing marker), Humectant (ultra-processing marker) (Glycerol· Pineapple), Desiccated Coconut, Spices (Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cassia, Coriander, Caraway, Ginger, Cloves), Golden Syrup (ultra-processing marker) (Invert Sugar Syrup), Walnuts, Invert Sugar Syrup (ultra-processing marker), Orange Zest, Colour (ultra-processing marker) (Plain Caramel (ultra-processing marker), Raising Agent), Sodium Bicarbonate, e450 (ultra-processing marker), Cornflour, Orange Peel, Salt (processing marker), Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum (ultra-processing marker)), Lemon Peel

Additives: E150a Plain caramel , E415 Xanthan gum , E450 Diphosphates , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Wheatflour (contains Gluten) (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin) Sugar· Carrots (10%), Pasteurised Free Range Egg, Rapeseed Oil, Dark Brown Sugar· Orange Soaked Raisins (6%) (Raisins · Concentrated Orange Juice), Soft Brown Sugar, Full Fat Soft Cheese (Milk) (6%) · Butter (Milk), Humectant: Glycerol· Pineapple, Desiccated Coconut · Ground Spices (Cinnamon, Nutmeg · Cassia · Coriander, Caraway, Ginger, Cloves) · Golden Syrup (Invert Sugar Syrup), Nibbed Walnuts, Invert Sugar Syrup · Orange Zest, Colour: Plain Caramel · Raising Agent: Sodium Bicarbonate, E450 · Cornflour, Orange Peel, Salt, Stabiliser: Xanthan Gum, Lemon Peel.

What makes it ultra-processed

Cosmetic additives

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

E150a Plain caramel Plain caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars.
E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
Humectant Humectants are substances which prevent foods from drying out by counteracting the effect of an atmosphere having a low degree of humidity, or promote the dissolution of a powder in an aqueous medium.

Substances rarely used in home kitchens

Refined or extracted in factories, such as syrups made from starch or isolated proteins. The other hallmark of ultra-processed food.

Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.

4 ingredients that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.
Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 377 cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 183rd. 94% of the cakes here are ultra-processed.

Ranked by NOVA group, then by the number of ultra-processing signs, additives and ingredients. Our ordering, not part of NOVA.

All 377 cakes, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00470353, last edited 27 March 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The NOVA group is an automated estimate from crowdsourced data: a missing or mistyped ingredient can change it.
NOVA measures processing, not nutrition. For nutrition, Open Food Facts gives this product a Nutri-Score of E (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.