Carrot Cake
This is my favorite recipe for homemade carrot cake! This cake is so easy to make, perfectly moist, and topped with an easy homemade cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
For the carrot cake:
- 250g of grated carrots
- 250g of cake or all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 4 eggs
- 100g of sunflower oil
- 250g of sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 100g of chopped pinapple. Not a pineapple fan? Substitute it for applesauce or plain yogurt.
- 100g of walnuts (can be replaced with almonds)
- 100g of raisins (optional)
For the frosting
- Cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- Powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Coconut flakes (Optional)
- Pecans (Optional)
Instructions
To make the carrot cake:
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Spray your cake pan well with non stick cooking spray or soft butter (you can also line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper for easier removal) and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla extract, pinapple, walnuts and raisins until fully combined.
- Add the grated carrots into the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk or rubber spatula until just combined, making sure not to over mix the batter.
- Pour the cake batter evenly in the cake pan. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-35 minutes or until the top of the cake is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack, and allow to cool in the pan for about 20-25 minutes. Once the cakes have cooled, remove from the pans and return the cakes to the wire rack to finish cooling.
To make the cream cheese frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the butter and mix for about 30 seconds-1 minute until well combined and smooth.
- Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and continue mixing until fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
To assemble the cake:
- Level the top of the cake with a knife or cake leveler.
- Place the cake on a cake stand. You can divide the cake in two layers with a big knife if you wish.
- If you divided the cake in two layers, top the first layer with the frosting, and smooth it out into one even layer. Place the second layer on top.
- Top the cake with the remaining frosting, and smooth it out into one even layer.
- Top with coconut flakes, pecans or other toppings of choice if desired.
Lilian Alburquerque
Product Designer, Prezly