Best Carrot Cake Recipe Ever

One of my favorite cakes is the ever classic carrot cake, with its moist and fragrant cake, and the light and creamy cream cheese frosting. I could eat unlimited carrot cake slices if I didn't have to watch the calories! It's a great recipe for any occasion, and I have to tell you, this is THE best recipe I have tried for a carrot cake.

Click image to view video-recipe

One optional, but for me, crucial ingredient in this recipe is... pumpkin spice! You my ask "Why pumpkin spice in a carrot cake? Isn't it just for pumpkin pies and other Fall desserts? The pumpkin spice adds the fragrance that pairs so well with carrots, adding warmth and just that flavor you need in a rich and lush cake such as this. You can definitely make your own pumpkin spice blend, I will leave the recipe I use in a future post, but if you can't find anything else, at least at some cinnamon and some nutmeg in the batter.

Ingredients:

Cake

- 280 gr of grated carrots

- 250 ml of vegatble oil

- 3 eggs

- 200 gr white sugar

- 100 gr brown sugar

- 250 gr all purpose flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 2 tsp pumpkin spice

- 80 gr chopped walnuts, pecans, or nuts of your choice

Cream cheese frosting

- 100 gr butter

- 200 gr cream cheese

- 130 gr powdered sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Procedure:

1. Grate 280 gr of peeled carrots (about 4 medium carrots) and set aside. Alternatively, you may also use a food processor, but making sure not to process the carrots too finely, the best option is to grate them.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the vegetable oil and whisk in the eggs, the white and brown sugar, and the vanilla extract.

3. Add the grated carrots and whisk until everything is incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl measure out the dry ingredients: all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin spice, and sift these ingredients into the wet ingredients.

5. Mix everything until it's well-combined, and finally add the chopped nuts.

6. Pour the batter into a lined cake pan (this recipe works well with a 18 cm diameter springform pan)

7. Bake in the oven at 170ºC for about 50-60 minutes, making sure it is done with a toothpick.

This cake may take quite long to bake due to the wet igredients, you may even notice excess browning on the top, to avoid this, you may cover the top with foil paper.

For the cream cheese frosting:

1. Beat softened unsalted butter until it becomes light and fluffy.

2. Add in the cream cheese, also softened, and beat until both ingredients are incorporated.

3. You may switch now to a rubber spatula to fold in the sugar, and avoid overbeating.

4. Finally add in the vanilla extract and the lemon juice and mix until the frosting looks smooth.

The frosting is good to go for spreading on the cake and in between the layers, but if you're going to put in in a piping bag, it will need some chilling in the fridge before you can use it. Otherwise, the frosting might be too soft.

I divided my cake in two layers, using toothpicks, as always, to help me cut them evenly. Spread the frosting between both layers, and then covered the entire cake with frosting. I set aside some frosting in a piping bag in the fridge for the final touches. Meanwhile, I covered the sides of the cake with chopped walnuts. Once the frosting in the piping bag is firmer, I decorated the edge and finally topped everything off with a fondant carrot (I used fresh mint for the leaves).

And voila! A delicious and quite pretty-looking cake, even if you don't have much experience baking or decorating, you may find this way to assemble the cake quite doable.