Packed with spices, super moist and topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting, this is my favorite recipe for carrot cake! It’s easy to make and you can enjoy it all year long.
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Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Packed with spices, super moist and topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting, this is my favorite recipe for carrot cake! It's easy to make and you can enjoy it all year long.
Ingredients
Carrot Cake:
- 2 eggs - at room temperature
- ½ cup light brown sugar - 100 grams. You can use ⅓ cup (66 grams) if you prefer it less sweet.
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar - 66 grams
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp orange zest - zest of one orange
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ cup grated carrots
- 1 cup all purpose flour - 120 grams
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ½ cup chopped walnuts - 50 grams
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- ¼ cup unsalted butter - at room temperature - 56 grams
- 4 oz cream cheese - at room temperature - 113 grams
- 1½ cup confectioner's sugar, sifted - 180 grams
- pinch of salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- food coloring of your choice - optional
Instructions
Carrot Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) . Grease and line a 8x8 inch cake pan.
- In a small bowl, add in flour, cinnamon, cardamom, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Beat white sugar, brown sugar and eggs with an electric mixer for 3 minutes until it is pale and creamy. Add in vanilla extract and orange zest and mix.
- With the mixer on, gradually add vegetable oil. Mix until combined.
- Add grated carrots and mix until combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients and walnuts. Using a spatula gently fold them in, until just combined. Make sure not to over mix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool down on wire rack for about 30 minutes, then remove it from the pan and place it on the wire rack again to completely cool down completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- First, beat the butter on medium for 2-3 minutes until it's light in color. Make sure it's at room temperature.
- Add the cream cheese and beat for 1 more minute until combined.
- Add the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla extract and salt and mix on low until combined.
- Now mix on high for one minute, until it's creamy and a little lighter in color. If you would like the frosting to be pure white, you can add in white food coloring. If you would like it to be more stiff, add ¼ cup or more powdered sugar to reach your desired consistency.
- If you would like to pipe the carrots on top, take out 4 tablespoons of the frosting. Divide in half, and dye them orange and green. Transfer the orange frosting to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #6 tip, and the green one to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #1 tip.
Assembly:
- Transfer the cooled down cake to your serving plate. Top it with the cream cheese frosting. You can use an offset spatula to create some stripes on top. You can either decorate the top with some chopped walnuts, or pipe some cute little carrots on top and enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
