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The Best Carrot Cake Recipe
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The Best Carrot Cake

A fluffy, moist carrot cake topped with a cream cheese frosting. Perfection in a cake!
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Cooling Time40 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake, carrot

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 2 cups flour spooned and leveled
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs, room temp
  • 1 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 heaping cups of shredded carrot
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts sub whatever you like

For the cream cheese frosting:

  • 1 8oz package cream cheese at room temp
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temp
  • 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Spray two 9" cake pans with nonstick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper if you like. It makes them come out of the pan very easily so I would recommend! Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, brown sugar, white sugar, applesauce and vanilla. Once combined, fold your shredded carrots into the wet mixture. Now add your wet ingredients to your dry and fold until combined. Don't over mix but make sure you don't see any clumps of flour anywhere.
  • Divide the batter evenly into your prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Mine ware perfect right around 33 minutes. Take out of oven and let cool in pans for 15 minutes. Then flip onto a cooling rack and cool for another 25 minutes.
  • While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting. In a medium bowl using a hand mixer, beat your cream cheese and butter together until combined and slightly fluffy. About a minute. Then add in the powdered sugar, vanilla and lemon juice. Mix until all combined, scraping down the sides as necessary.
  • Once cakes are cooled, frost your cake. Place one layer down on a cake plate and spoon over a few spoonfuls (about 1/2 cup-3/4 cup) and spread on the top only. Then place your second layer on top of that and continue frosting to your liking. I topped my cake with some chopped walnuts.