Carrot Cake

This carrot cake recipe is simple and loaded with flavour. A classic taste with sweet and subtle spices, crunchy walnuts and a rich cream cheese frosting to top it all off.

In our house carrot cake is definitely an Easter cake. Why? Two reasons

Seasonal – In New Zealand, Easter comes at the start of Autumn. The warm spiced flavors of carrot cake work so well alongside the cooling weather.

Reason number two… the Easter bunny likes carrots right? Carrot cake has to be the Easter bunny’s favourite cake. So we make a carrot cake for Easter.

A couple of years ago I decided to tackle figuring out a tolerable recipe for my least favourite cake. Carrot cake. And this is the result!

I can now happily say that I can eat one piece of this cake without thinking eww carrot cake.

Instead I am thinking…

One more piece sounds good.

No wait, hold on, save some for me!

 And              No one will miss this last piece will they?

Ok fine, I am a carrot cake convert!  And this recipe is the reason why. Try this recipe for yourself if you love carrot cake (or even if you don’t).

Preparing the carrots

Carrot cake obviously needs carrots.

To prepare the carrots you need to peel and grate them. I find that I get the best results for this recipe when the carrots  are grated using as fine of a grater as possible. This will disperse the carrots through the cake the best and will eliminates the risk of having under cooked carrot pieces or an over cooked cake. This recipe uses 4 medium sized carrots which equates to 3 cups or 350g of grated carrot. Do not rinse the grated carrot or pat them dry. Just add it straight to your bowl after you have mixed through the egg.

Do you need to add walnuts

The walnuts in this recipe were a game changer for me. Make sure that they are diced roughly. You will get crisp little bites of walnut through the cake. The walnuts are totally optional though. Feel free to leave them out if you do not like them.

Icing and decorating the cake

Cream cheese frosting is definitely the go to for carrot cake. It’s absolutely a crown pleaser. It also compliments the flavors in the carrot cake the best. Although I will, on occasion trade out the traditional cream cheese frosting for a maple buttercream or a white chocolate ganache if I want something a little sweeter.

To decorate this cake I love using more natural decorations. I think the green, red and orange of pumpkin seeds, cranberries and apricot go so well with the orange and brown hues of the cake. I like to arrange them out on a cutting board before I commit to placing them onto the cake. These arrangements remind me of stained glass windows and are my favourite decorations for carrot cake.

Carrot Cake

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 55 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Course Baking

Servings 12 Slices

Ingredients

  

Cake

• 4 medium sized carrots
• 70 grams packet of walnuts
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoons nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk

Cream cheese icing

• 125 grams cream cheese
• 50 grams butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups icing sugar
• apricots, walnuts, cranberries and walnuts for decorating

Instructions

 

Cake

• Preheat oven to 160 ℃ and line a large cake pan with baking paper
• Peel and grate the carrots and set aside
• Finely dice walnuts set aside
• In a large bowl combine sugar, oil and spices
• Add in the eggs and beat together well
• Add your prepared carrots and walnuts to your bowl. Give it a quick mix together to combine.
• Put all of your remaining ingredients into your bowl and mix together well
• Spoon your cake batter into the prepared cake pan
• Bake your cake for 30 minutes and then cover with a piece of tin foil
• Return the cake to the oven and bake, covered for a further 25 minutes or until the cake is fully cooked.
• Remove the cake from the oven and it allow to cool fully before icing

Cream cheese icing

• Place the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and allow it to soften at room temperature.
• Using a electric whisk, combine the cream cheese and butter with your vanilla. whisk until smooth.
• Continue whisking while you add in the icing sugar a little bit at a time.
• Whisk until all of the icing is smooth and spreadable
• Ice your cake with the cream cheese icing and decorate with diced, dried apricots, cranberries, pumpkin seeds and walnuts

Heres something else you may like to try:

Spiced Apple Slab Cake Feijoa cake No Bake Honey Slice