Description
A delicious, moist, melt-in-your-mouth carrot cake recipe. Made with a blend of warm spices, grated carrots, and homemade cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
DRY INGREDIENTS
- 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Tsps Baking Powder
- 2 Tsps Baking Soda
- 2 Tsps Ground Cinnamon
- 2 Tsps Ground Nutmeg
- 1 Tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 Tsp Ground Clove
- 1 Tsp Salt
WET INGREDIENTS & ADD-INS
- 3 Cups Carrots, shredded
- 1 Cup Buttermilk
- 1 Cup Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 Cup Apple Sauce
- 1/2 Cup Butter, melted
- 4 Large Eggs
- 2 Tsps Vanilla Extract
CAKE PAN INGREDIENTS
- Pam Cooking Spray
- 2 Tbs Vegetable Oil
- 1/3 Cup All-purpose Flour
FROSTING INGREDIENTS
- 16oz Cream Cheese
- 4 Cups Confectioners’ Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Pecan Syrup
- 1/4 Cup Milk
- 2 Tsps Vanilla
- Crushed Walnuts
Instructions
- Sift the dry ingredients as you add them to a big mixing bowl, then whisk well.
- Melt the butter in a skillet or microwave, then set it aside for a few minutes.
- After it cools down, add it to a large mixing bowl with the buttermilk, oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla.
- Blend well with a hand mixer on low speed.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Peel the carrots and shred them with a grater.
- Add them to the wet ingredients and fold well.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
- Blend well with a hand mixer on low speed just until everything is well incorporated.
- Wipe some oil around all parts of the cake pans and lightly spray them with Pam spray.
- Add the flour, shake the pans to ensure all parts are well-coated, then flip them upside down to remove excess flour.
- Pour the cake mix into the cake pans.
- Lift the pans an inch above the table or counter and drop them; do this 3x.
- Place the pans on the lower rack in the oven.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, then remove them and give them 30 minutes to chill.
- FROSTING: Meanwhile, add all the frosting ingredients to a medium mixing bowl.
- Combine with a hand mixer on low speed until nice and smooth.
- Place a baking rack over the cake pans, then flip them upside down to remove the cake.
- Place parchment paper under the baking rack to catch any dripping frosting.
- Add a generous, even layer of frosting to the top of the bottom cake layer using an icing spatula, then refrigerate.
- After 30 minutes, or once the frosting hardens, remove it from the refrigerator.
- Gently place the second layer of cake directly onto the bottom layer.
- Add the remaining frosting to coat the top and sides of the assembled cake.
- Put the walnuts in a blender and blend them until very fine.
- Garnish the top and sides of the cake with the ground walnuts.
- Lift the cake with a cake lifter, set it on the cake holder, and cover with a lid.
