Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

I admit it. I have a sweet tooth that drives me up a wall! I adore sweets but alas, they don’t adore my thighs. Anyhow, one of my favorite cakes to make is a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! I love it! Emma loves this recipe and literally begs me to make it! It’s simple to make too. I do it all by hand (including grating the carrots) but you can buy pre-shredded carrots if you want.

You Will Need:

For cake:

1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup raisins (optional)

For Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick) – BUTTER..not margarine, softened
1 lb powdered sugar (about 1/2 a bag)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons cream, enough to aid in spreading consistency (can use milk for this instead)

Cake Directions:

1. Wash and grate carrots if you’re doing it yourself. I find that 4 to 5 large carrots is about 1 1/2 cups give or take.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir to mix well. You’ll get a white mixture with tinges of red..lol.

3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar and oil until creamy. You’ll know what I mean by creamy when you see it.

4. With mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the egg mixture mixing well after each addition. I do mean slowly too. Don’t dump the whole bowl in there, do about 1/4 of the mixture at a time.

5. Add vanilla and mix well.

6. Add carrots and blend well. You may need to add these in portions too. Also, this will make you batter very thick at this point.

7. Add 1/2 of pecans and mix well. Add the raisins now too if you’re using them. Thick batter huh?

8. Pour into a well greased 8×12 baking pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

9. When cake is completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting recipe. When frosted, sprinkle reserved pecans over top of cake.

**NOTE: Peanuts or walnuts can be substituted for pecans. Also, I double this recipe and make it in a 9×13 cake pan.***

Frosting Directions:

1. Combine cream cheese and butter with mixer on medium speed.

2. Blend in vanilla and sugar. I highly suggest you add half of the sugar and taste test. Powdered sugar can be a fickle ingredient and get too much of it for your tastes and you’ll ruin the whole batch for yourself. Once you’ve got the first part added, mix well, taste and then continue to add a bit at a time until you’ve got it perfect for your tastes.

3. Add milk and whip. Start with 3Tbl and continue to add 1Tbl at a time until you’ve got a great spreading consistency.

This will keep in the fridge for about a week and can be frozen. It will keep in the freezer for about 3 months. Keep in mind that with most frostings, the more you whip it, the more you end up with..lol.

Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

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