You have to try this Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!!!  It hits all the cakey, spicey, subtly-sweet notes you would expect from a carrot cake.  Plus, it’s topped with tangy and decadent cream cheese frosting!  This is a WIN-WIN!

 

I found the cake recipe on Freutcake.com.  I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars!  It has excellent flavor, moisture and density.  It’s everything you’d want in a carrot cake!

 

It’s really simple to make.  The most work you’ll do is grate the carrots.

 

Little helper 🙂

 

Good thing I have her to do the busy work for me!!

 

Copper got the scraps – he thinks he’s a rabbit.  He eats carrots, bananas, and even blueberries!  Good for him 🙂

On a side note, the rabbit, Norman, thinks he’s a dog and sits on my lap for scratches.  I think the two of them are rubbing off on each other.  Species confusion maybe?

 

The recipe does NOT call for raisins, but I have to have raisins in my carrot cake so I substituted them.

Tip:  Soak the raisins in warm water for 10 minutes prior to using.  This will “bring them back to life” and give their plumpness back, that way they can’t take away moisture from the cake!

 

Once the carrots are grated, mix together the wet ingredients.

 

I usually double the amount of vanilla any cake recipe calls for…

 

 

Now mix in the dry ingredients and make sure to sift!!  Sift, sift, sift!

 

Mix until it just comes together.

 

Then fold in the carrots and raisins (if using raisins).

 

Time to grease the pans and I use Baker’s Joy because it already has flour in it.

And because I’m lazy.

 

Use two 9 inch round pans.  We’re making a LAYER cake!!  Fun!

 

While the cakes are baking, whip up the cream cheese frosting.  This is a basic recipe that I’ve been using since the beginning of time and you can find it down below.

 

I skipped a bunch of pictures, but as a FYI, I cooled the cakes in their pans on cooling racks for 10 minutes, then I turned them out.  THEN, I sliced a thin layer off the top of each cake to make them even and uniform.  Once cooled, I gave the cake a center layer of cream cheese frosting and then “rough frosted” the rest.

 

You can see the “rustic method” I used to frost the cake.  Then I covered it and refrigerated it overnight.

I baked this cake for my mother-in-law.  She recently celebrated her birthday and I always bake her a cake or cupcakes for the occasion.  Carrot cake is one of her favorites!  We went to see her the next day so I baked this the night before.

 

 

I’m one of those people who prefers NOT to use nuts in my desserts, but nuts on the outside are okay.  I came up with a compromise and slapped some crushed pecans on the outside since traditional carrot cake has pecans.  This also covered up my “rustic frosting method” LOL!

 

It turned out nice and pretty. 🙂

 

Serves 12 normal people, or 6 hungry people!

 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

You can find the VERY EASY recipe here:  Carrot Cake Recipe via Fruetcake.com

Adaptations: 

• I doubled the amount of salt
• I doubled the amount of Vanilla extract
• I added 1/2 teaspoon of Nutmeg to the dry ingredients
• I reduced the vegetable oil by 1/4 cup
• I substituted 1/2 cup of Raisins for 1/2 cup of shredded Carrots
• I used my cream cheese frosting recipe, below, versus the one on the website

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 package (8 ounces|1 cup) Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 stick (4 ounces|1/2 cup) Unsalted Butter
• 2-3 cups Powdered Sugar (depending on sweetness preference)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Pinch of Salt

Bring the cream cheese and butter to room temp.  Mix both together really well in a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer).  Begin adding the powdered sugar in one cup intervals.  Once the sugar is fully mixed, add the vanilla and salt.  Mix until combined.  Needs refrigeration.