The Best Carrot Cake
This is the best carrot cake to make for Easter. It is a two layer cake with cream cheese frosting.
Servings: 16 slices
Calories: 625kcal
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 3 1/4 cup All purpose flour
- 1/4 cup Cornstarch
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 TBSP Ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp Ground ginger
- 1 cup Oil canola or vegetable oil
- 1 cup Brown sugar packed light or dark
- 1/2 cup White granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup Sour cream room temperature or greek yogurt.
- 1/2 cup Buttermilk room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups Grated carrots 5 medium carrots.
- 4 Large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 cups Unsalted butter room temperature
- 16 oz Cream cheese room temperature
- 3 cups Powdered sugar sifted
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- * Optional orange and green food dye
Instructions
Carrot Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Spray two 8-inch cake pans with baking nonstick spray. Line the bottoms with 8-inch parchment paper circles. Spray again.
- First, grate the peeled carrots. Use the smallest hole in your grater. It should be a packed 2 1/2 cups of grated carrots.2 1/2 cups Grated carrots
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Set aside.3 1/4 cup All purpose flour, 1/4 cup Cornstarch, 2 tsp Baking powder, 1 tsp Baking soda, 1 tsp Salt, 1 TBSP Ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg, 1 tsp Ground ginger
- In a separate bowl, mix the oil, brown sugar, sugar, sour cream, buttermilk, grated carrots, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until combined.1 cup Oil, 1 cup Brown sugar , 1/2 cup White granulated sugar, 1/2 cup Sour cream , 1/2 cup Buttermilk, 4 Large eggs, 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- Pour the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth.
- Pour the cake batter evenly into the two cake pans. Bake for 22-25 minute. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let the cake sit in the hot pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a medium bowl, sift the powdered sugar. Set aside.3 cups Powdered sugar
- Using a mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese on high speed for 2 minutes until creamy. If any chunks remain, scrape the bowl and beat again.2 cups Unsalted butter, 16 oz Cream cheese
- Add in half of the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until combined. Add in the rest of the powdered sugar and mix until combined.
- Add in the vanilla and mix on high speed until creamy.1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- If you want to pipe little carrot on top of the cake. Place 2 TBSP of frosting in one bowl, and 1/4 cup frosting in another bowl. Color the smaller amount green and the other bowl orange.* Optional orange and green food dye
Assembly
- Place the first cake layer down, Spread 1 cup of frosting over the cake. Top with the second cake layer, with the bottom of the cake facing up.
- Spread a light layer of frosting around the cake. Freeze for 15 minutes. This is the crumb coat layer.
- Frost the rest of the cake.
- I used Wilton tip 6 for the carrots and Wilton tip 67 for the leaves. Pipe little carrots all over the cake.
Notes
Flour- Make sure flour is spooned and leveled or use a kitchen scale. Compacted flour can dry out the cake.
High altitude baking- Add an extra 3 TBSP of flour.
Pull out dairy ingredients 2 hours before baking.
Nutrition
Calories: 625kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 18g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 95mg | Sodium: 374mg | Potassium: 114mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 1149IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 100mg | Iron: 1mg