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If you've been tracking my recipes so far, you might notice that this is the first recipe with no chocolate to date. Listen, I'm a complex individual. I might only make desserts, but they aren't all chocolate. Anyways, I call this a simple recipe because a lot of carrot cake recipes online will call for some other fruit like pineapple or applesauce to make the cake more moist - this doesn't call for any of that - I don't think it's necessary. This cake is perfect and moist as is
Everything you will need:
Ingredients
For cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 and 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups of peeled carrots
For Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese (1 block package), room temperature
~2 cups powdered sugar
~1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
1 stick salted butter, room temp
1 pinch of salt
Equipment:
Mixing bowl
Spatula
electric mixer (or a can-do attitude)
2 9-inch round baking pans (or a 13x9 will work as well)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C)
Whisk together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Mixed
Grate 3 cups of carrots (5-6 full large carrots)
mix the 3 cups of carrots with your dry ingredients, until fully coated
In a separate bowl, mix together:
1 and 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Once Mixed, add:
4 large eggs, room temp
Mix the ingredients of both bowls together, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl
Prepare your baking pan or pans with oil spray, then split your batter evenly (or fill your one pan)
Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a butter knife inserted in the middle comes out clean
As the cake bakes and cools, make your frosting (you have plenty of time, you can't frost a warm, much less hot cake)
I'll put the directions for cream cheese frosting on another page but essentially- beat together:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
~2 cups powdered sugar
~1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
1 stick salted butter, room temp
1 pinch of salt
adding liquid to thin or sugar to thicken until you get the desired consistency. Be careful- a little milk goes a long way
Ok, now let's discuss
You might look at those last pictures and think "That's way too much frosting". And you're entitled to an opinion, even if it's incorrect. One of my favorite adages I took from my mother is "Cake is but a vessel for frosting". Anyways, you can always scrape it off, but you can't always get more.
Other notes about carrot cake specifically -
In this Recipe I had you mix the carrots and the dry ingredients together because some people say that coating the carrots first helps suspend them in the wet batter so that they don't all sink to the bottom. I haven't personally found this to be an issue but it doesn't hurt to do- unless you take a really long time after you coat the carrots (like maybe you realized you don't have enough brown sugar and have to run to the store) in which case it can suck the moisture out of the carrots which will look a little funny but in the end will probably taste the exact same.
Like I mentioned at the top - some recipes will call for pineapple or applesauce or some other addition for more moisture. If you're curious, I would give it a try! but most important is probably just not overbaking your cake.
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