Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
My all-time favorite carrot cake recipe for many reasons: it’s extra moist, has the most incredible spice flavor, is so easy to throw together, and is downright irresistible with cream cheese frosting.
Servings 15 slices
Equipment
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 2 Cups (260g) grated carrots about 4 large
- 2 1/2 Cups (330g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 Cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 Cups (300g) packed brown sugar light or dark
- 1 Cup (240ml) vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 3/4 Cup (135g) unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 8 Cups (960g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 Cup (32g) cornstarch* optional, see notes
- 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 16 Oz (452g) full-fat brick-style cream cheese**, room temperature NOT the spread
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
Make the Carrot Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF/177ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting a parchment paper circle to the bottoms.
- Grate the carrots by hand and measure them out into a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. In another medium bowl, whisk together the white and brown sugars, vegetable oil, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together using a rubber spatula until just combined, then fold in the grated carrots. At this point you can fold in any add-ins if you wish.***
- Pour the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning them out to cool fully on a wire rack or baking sheet.
Make the Cream Cheese Buttercream
- Sift together the powdered sugar and cornstarch (if using) and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese on medium-high until light, fluffy, and uniform (no lumps), about 5 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low speed and add the powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture a few cups at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Add the vanilla and salt and mix on low for another minute, until fully combined and smooth.
Assembly
- Once the cake layers have cooled completely, level them to your desired height. Fill and stack the cake layers with cream cheese buttercream, then crumb coat the cake with more cream cheese buttercream. Refrigerate the crumb coated cake for at least 30 minutes to let the frosting firm up.
- To create the design pictured, use the cream cheese frosting to create a smooth finish on the cake. Refrigerate the cake for an additional 20 minutes to let the frosting firm up while you prepare the piping bags.
- Create the Carrot Design: Reserve about ½ Cup of the cream cheese buttercream and divide it into two different bowls. Tint the first bowl with orange food coloring, then tint the other bowl with green food coloring. Add each color into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 2. On the cold frosted cake, pipe the carrots with the orange buttercream using a back-and-forth motion to create elongated triangles in a random pattern. Then, top each carrot with a few green lines to look like little stems.
- To finish, add the rest of the uncolored cream cheese buttercream into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 4B. Pipe a shell border around the bottom of the cake, then pipe shell border along the top edge of the cake.
Notes
*Cornstarch helps thicken the consistency of the cream cheese buttercream without adding any flavor. I highly recommend it if you want this frosting to be extra stable for piping.
**It's very important to use full-fat brick-style cream cheese in this recipe (I use Philadelphia brand), not the spread or low-fat variations. The spreadable kind and reduced fat versions contain much more water content and will add too much liquid to the frosting, making it impossible to work with. If you don't have access to brick-style cream cheese, I recommend making a double batch of my vanilla buttercream recipe instead.
***See the blog post above for ingredient ideas and amounts for adding in at the end of the recipe (raisins, nuts, etc.)
Make Ahead Tips:
- The carrot cakes can be made ahead and stored, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to two days. Alternatively, you can store the wrapped cake layers in the freezer for up to 2 months before thawing and frosting.
- The cream cheese buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-mix it with your stand mixer on low speed until it’s smooth and uniform.
- The decorated cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Take it out of the refrigerator an hour or two before serving – it stores best cold but tastes best at room temperature.