Amazing Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yesss, love me some carrot cake!
Can you believe this is the first dessert ever containing carrots that I'm posting to the blog?? Me neither.
How come? Really just because I never got around to perfecting a carrot cake recipe. Definitely not because I don't love carrot cake.
There are so many dessert types out there that I want to "perfect," and perfecting a dessert takes lots of time. And flour. And butter. And in this case, carrots.
For example, I realllly went through the testing and tasting process for these chocolate chip cookies. And for these cinnamon rolls. And these past few weeks, I did it for this carrot cake.
So you know this one's a good one.
Here's what you want from a carrot cake: a cake that's soft and moist and fluffy, but not tooooooo fluffy and light. One that's flavorful with just the right amount of spices (and by "right amount" I mean a generous amount). A cake with a hefty amount of freshly grated carrots (none of that jar mush). A cake with the prefect ratio of white sugar to brown sugar. And a cake with my favorite cake add-in (after chocolate chunks, obviously) - nuts.
So yes, this is a selfish cake. Cuz I made it the way I like it. No raisins. No pineapple juice. No shredded coconut. Na. Just walnuts. MMMMHMMMM.
That being said, you can always skip the nuts and add raisins, or keep the nuts and still add the raisins if you'd like.
And I know some people see a layer cake recipe and run, but don't. Because this amazing carrot cake is actually a pretty easy cake to make!
Whisk together the wet ingredients, mix in the dry, divide the batter between your cake pans, and off to the oven the layers go.
Next, you're gonna whip up that cream cheese frosting. Just like the carrot cake, the frosting is amazing as well. I prefer to start out with a lesser amount of powdered sugar for my frosting and add till I reach my desired sweetness level. Feel free to do the same before dumping the whole bag of powdered sugar into your machine.
And once the layers have cooled, you just spread some frosting on the first layer, top it with the second, spread frosting on the second layer, top it with the third, and spread more frosting on the third layer.
To keep things simple, I left my cake naked. Meaning I didn't frost the sides. Just to makes things easier for both of us. And it's totally allowed. Just call it "rustic."
But. You can also just bake this cake in one large pan and simply spread the cream cheese frosting over the whole top. Or, just make cupcakes with this carrot cake recipe if you're not feeling a giant cake.
Oh, and you know those cakes that taste better like three days after they're baked (no really, that's a thing)? This amazing carrot layer cake is one of them. The flavors intensify, the texture improves, and the sun starts shining more brightly.
Soft and moist. Fluffy and tender. Spiced and flavorful. Sweet and nutty. Filled with a creamy, slightly tangy cream cheese frosting. Does cake get better? Yeah no.
Amazing Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: 3 layer 8" cake
1 cup oil
4 large eggs
2 1/4 cups lightly packed, shredded carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups packed flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 sticks (8 oz.) butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2+ cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line and grease three 8" round pans (alternatively, make two thicker 8 or 9" layers).
2. In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the oil, eggs, carrots, walnuts, sugars, and vanilla extract until smooth.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir everything together until just combined.
4. Divide batter evenly between the pans and bake cakes for 20-26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out just clean.
5. Let cakes cool 10 minutes in pans before running a knife around the edges and flipping layers onto a cake rack. Peel off parchment paper and let layers cool completely before frosting.
6. Frosting: Beat together the butter and cream cheese (with a whisk attachment). Once smooth, add in the confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract, and salt and beat for a few minutes till smooth and fluffy. If you'd like your frosting sweeter, add more confectioner's sugar and beat again.
7. Spread frosting on first cake layer, top with second cake layer, spread frosting on top, top with third layer, and spread frosting on top again. Cake gets better the second and third day! Store in the fridge if you've frosted the cake.
