If you’re a fan of carrot cake you’re going to LOVE this carrot cake recipe. My mom recently celebrated her birthday, and carrot cake is her absolute favorite. So, it was a no-brainer that I would make her this carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I’m not gonna lie that this cake is a little labor intensive and more hands on than some of the recipes I’ve previously shared. But, let me tell you it’s absolutely worth it for this delicious carrot cake.
Carrot Cake Recipe
If you have a stand mixer, hand mixer and food processor you’ve got your bases covered for this recipe. The hand mixer works really well for mixing the cake together, and making sure all the ingredients are combined. When it comes to grating the carrots you’re really going to need a food processor. This food processor is the way to go for grating carrots! I used 3-4 large carrots (don’t use small carrot sticks for this recipe), and it was a breeze to grate them in this food processor.
Carrot Cake + Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 cup Butter melted
- 4 Eggs at room temperature
- 1 tbsp Vanilla
- 3 cups Carrots grated with a food processer
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup Butter softened
- 8 oz Cream Cheese softened
- 1 1/4 tsp Vanilla
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 3 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
Instructions
For The Cake:
- Prepare two 8" cake pans by spraying them with cooking spray. Make sure you spray them well so the cake batter doesn't stick. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Add the vegetable oil and melted butter to the dry ingredients. I used a hand mixer to mix these ingredients together. Mix until the ingredients are well combined.
- Add the room temperature eggs one at a time to this mixture. Use the hand mixer to beat the eggs in, but don't over mix.
- Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine.
- Fold in the carrots and stir until everthing is combined. Don't over mix.
- Pour your batter into your cake pans evenly. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let your cakes cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before taking them out to cool on a baking rack.
For The Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Combine the butter and cream cheese. I used my stand mixer for making this frosting. You could also use a hand mixer. Make sure the butter and cream cheese get creamy before moving to the next step.
- Add the vanilla and salt to the butter/cream cheese mixture. Mix to combine.
- With your mixture on low, add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time. Make sure each 1/2 cup is well combined before adding the next 1/2 cup.
- When your cake has cooled, frost the cake with an offset frosting spatula.
Cream Cheese Frosting
My big tip for making the cream cheese frosting is to make sure your butter and cream cheese are softened. Leave these ingredients out for a few hours to make sure they are soft. Using a stand mixer really helps to make this frosting. Adding each 1/2 cup of powdered sugar while the mixer is on low is so much easier with a stand mixer. If you like your cream cheese frosting sweeter, you can add more powdered sugar.
If you like this recipe for carrot cake, don’t miss this recipe for banana carrot muffins. These muffins are perfect for a snack or breakfast! Leave comment here if you try making this carrot cake recipe and cream cheese frosting. I would love to know what you think of this cake!
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