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Best Carrot Cake Recipe

Recipe How to Make Carrot Cake from Scratch
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The BEST carrot cake recipe you will ever eat. It’s perfectly moist, perfectly sweet and so delicious! So good, I made it for my wedding!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 2¼ cups (450 grams) granulated (white) sugar
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed (dark or light)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 3 cups finely grated peeled carrot, packed
  • 2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
  • 1¾ cups sweetened coconut flakes, lightly packed
  • 1½ cups raisins (optional)
  • 8-ounce can crushed pineapple – reserve 1.5 tablespoons of juice
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh orange zest (about two oranges)
  • 1½ cups vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 4 eggs

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 24 ounces cream cheese, softened (3 packages)
  • 4.5 to 5 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Special Equipment:

Instructions

Make the carrot cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spray two 9 inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line each with a parchment paper round. Spray another layer of cooking spray on top of the parchment paper. You can also use 20 jumbo cupcake liners in a muffin tin.
  3. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and all spices.
  4. In your mixer bowl, combine peeled and grated carrots, nuts, coconut flakes, raisins (if using), drained pineapple, and orange zest and mix at low speed until combined.
  5. Add the vegetable oil, vanilla, and eggs one at a time, mixing well, Scrape bowl between additions.
  6. Add 2 tablespoons of the reserved pineapple juice and mix well, scraping bowl down after.
  7. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix by hand or Kitchen Aid on low speed for about 1 minute or until just combined. Do not over mix.
  8. Pour divided into prepared pans. To ensure even layers, I recommend weighing each layer.
  9. Bake at 350° Fahrenheit for 25-30 mins for cupcakes, 35-40 minutes for 9-inch layer cakes, or 50-60 minutes for 8-inch layer cakes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate pans halfway through baking.
  10. Allow cooling completely in pan for 1-2 hrs. Remove from pan and ice with cream cheese icing (recipe below).
  11. Frost with Cream Cheese Icing. Recipe below. Place 1/4 of icing between the two layers and when placing the top cake layer on, put the flat side of the cake (the bottom when it was in the cake pan) facing up for a flat top which makes a more attractive cake and easier to ice.

Make the cream cheese frosting and assemble the cake:

  1. Cream the butter with a mixer for 2 minutes until pale and light.
  2. Add the cream cheese and cream for 2 minutes, until well mixed.
  3. Stir in the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
  4. Add the salt and vanilla and mix well. Add additional powdered sugar as needed to thicken.

Assemble the cake:

  1. Place one cake layer on your cake stand with the flatter end up. Layer with about half the cream cheese icing, letting the frosting hang over the edge slightly.
  2. Place your second cake layer, flatter end up. Spread with the remaining cream cheese icing
  3. Decorate as you like!

Notes

The assembled cake will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. Add carrot curls immediately prior to serving. Unfrosted baked cake rounds will keep in the freezer for up to a month. Make sure they are wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and in a sealed airtight container.

Find it online: https://asideofsweet.com/best-carrot-cake-recipe/