Look no further for the best carrot cake recipe topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting! Our family started making this carrot cake for Easter celebrations, but it has now become our families favorite go-to celebration cake! It is hearty, satisfying, not-too-sweet, and full of delicious flavor and texture! This recipe is sure to be a favorite with your family and friends!
Go ahead and give this recipe a try! Happy baking!
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Ingredients for carrot CAKE
6 cups carrots (grated)
1 cup raisins
1 cup sugar (brown)
4 eggs
1.5 cups sugar (white)
1 cup vegetable oil
2 TSP vanilla extract
1 cup pineapple (crushed and drained)
3 cups flour
1.5 TSP baking soda
1 TSP salt
4 TSP cinnamon
1 cup walnuts (chopped)
Ingredients for Cream cheese frosting
8 oz of cream cheese (softened at room temp.)
3 cups powdered sugar
0.5 cup of unsalted butter (softened at room temp.)
1 TSP of vanilla
1/8 TSP salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease two 10 inch cake pans. I highly recommend using parchment paper to line your cake pans for easy removal of your cake. This pre-cut parchment papers for 10 inch cake pans are AMAZING!
- Combine carrots (grated) and sugar (brown) and let sit covered at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Stir in raisins to the carrot and brown sugar mixture.
- In a new bowl, beat eggs slightly so they are lightly foamy. Next add sugar (white), organic vanilla extract, oil, and pineapple.
- In a new bowl, combine flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda and mix. Slowly add this mixture to the egg mixture in step 4 until fully incorporated. I do all of this in my stand mixer. I use this stand mixer, and I LOVE it!
- Add the brown sugar/carrot/raisin mixture to the cake batter (as described in step 5) and add the walnuts.
- Dispense batter evenly into two cake pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake.
- Cool cake completely before icing the cake. This space-saving cooling rack is so helpful! While cake is cooling prepare the cream cheese icing.
- To make cream cheese icing, beat together the cream cheese and butter until they smoothly incorporate. Slowly add the powdered sugar until fully incorporated. Finally add the vanilla and salt.
- Reserve a portion of frosting at this point to dye orange and green if you want to decorate with carrots on top of your cake. Try these all-natural food colorings as an alternative to traditional chemical based food coloring options!
- Ice the cake now with frosting and enjoy!!
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Interested in other baking ideas like this best carrot cake recipe?? Check out our amazing braided Challah recipe or our best sandwich bread recipe! Both have been tested and are delicious, repeatable, and reliable every time!
