Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

 
Carrot Cake
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Ingredients: 
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 C. granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light or dark sugar (firmly packed) 
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsps. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1 C. vegetable oil
  • 1/2 C. butter melted - it called for unsalted, but I only had salted butter and it was fine
  • 4 large eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 T. vanilla extract
  • 3 C. grated carrots peeled
Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting: I doubled this recipe for this cake. The recipe below is for one batch of frosting.
  • 1/2 C. (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 8 oz. cream cheese (brick style)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions:
Cake:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two 8" baking pans with parchment paper, gently greasing and flouring the sides.
  2. Whisk together the dry ingredients - flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer.
  3. Stir in the oil and melted butter; the batter will be stiff and thick at this stage; either mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
  4. Mix in room temperature eggs (If you forgot to take the eggs out of the refrigerator before you started making the cake, just put the whole eggs in warm water for about 5-7 minutes.) Mix the eggs in the batter one at a time, making sure they are incorporated before you add the next egg.
  5. Add vanilla extract and mix.
  6. Stir in the carrots and walnuts by hand by folding them into the batter. Don't overwork the batter. 
  7. Divid the batter equally between both prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  8. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans. Use a butter knife to release the cake around the edges. Place both on a wire rack and let cool completely.
Frosting:
  1. Beat butter until it is creamy and a little lighter in color. 
  2. Sift the powdered sugar to make sure that there are no lumps.
  3. Add the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Make sure it is incorporated before you add more sugar.
  4. Pour in the vanilla extract and salt and keep mixing on medium speed of mixer
  5. Add cream cheese and beat on medium low until fluffy.
  6. Add a small amount of cream to make your desired consistency. 
  7. Frost and decorate cooled cake.