Homemade Cream Cheese Carrot Cake

A good carrot cake is one that feels good to bake, good to frost, good to eat, and too good not to share.

Thomas loves a carrot cake, and I've made quite a few over the years. The reason this particular recipe now makes it to the website is because, well, it completely hit that brief. Particularly, I made this cake for my birthday to take to work* — very well expecting to bring some home again for Thomas and myself. But it disappeared! And the peer reviews revealed a cake that was moist, not too sweet in itself but perfect with frosting, mysteriously spiced, and generally a crowd pleaser. This paired with the fact I made another of these cakes almost immediately speaks volumes about the ease-to-deliciousness ratio, and I'd like to leave the recipe here for safekeeping.

Full disclosure: this recipe is adapted from Dorie Greenspan's version for NYT. I adapted it to include darker sugar, more spices, and a cream cheese frosting that's just a little less sweet.

*In the Netherlands, you trakteer (spoil others) when celebrating something like your birthday. This could be buying your friends a drink at the bar, or bringing a cake for your colleagues. This is my 'integration behaviour'…

Ingredients

Makes a lot of cake… I split this recipe in half to bake two identical cakes and layer them one on the other, rather than bake one tall one and cut it in half. Do what makes you happy!!

Carrot Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon (but add up to 2 tsp depending on your preference)
• 1 tsp ginger powder (or a little more—the flavour was not as prominent as I would've liked, but definitely adds something)
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg (just a little gives a zing, but any more and it's overpowering… oops)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups grated carrot
  • One medium carrot is one cup, in my experience. Grate it however you like: grate thin and it melts away deliciously into the cake, or grate thicker for extra texture moistness.
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans and walnut (i.e. 1/2 cup of each)
• 1 cup dessicated coconut
  • I didn't toast it before adding it in, but I'd like to next time.
• 1/2 cup plumpened raisins (soaked in hot water for at least 15 mins before use)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light-brown sugar
• 1 cup sunflower oil (this recipe doesn't use butter and this keeps the cake super delicious for days)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 4 eggs

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 200g cream cheese, room temp
• 100g butter, room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp lemon juice, to taste
• a pinch of salt, to taste
• 300g powdered sugar (but could be more or less, to taste)
  • I start with 200g and make my way up to 300 depending on desired texture and sweetness.

Method

Carrot Cake

1. Preheat your oven to 180 °C (or whatever temperature your oven bakes at: mine is 220° because ovens are weird). Prepare your cake pans or muffin trays or whatever you'll be baking in, and set them aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the carrots, nuts, raisins (drained), and coconut, and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, use a whisk or electric mixer (recommended) to beat the sugars and oil together until combined and somewhat smooth, then add the vanilla essence. Beat in the eggs, one by one, until it becomes a thicker and glossy batter.
4. With a large spoon or spatula, or with the mixer on low speed, gently stir the flour mixture into the batter. Do not over-mix: combine just until the dry ingredients have 'disappeared.' Next, gently stir in the carrot mixture.
5. Divide the batter among your batter receptacles (I really do think this would also make a good muffin recipe…) and bake as long as your instincts tell you. My reasonably thin layers baked in about 25 minutes, but thicker cakes could take up to an hour. It depends on how weird your oven is—you'll know much better than me how long your particular carrot cake needs to bake.
6. Remove from oven and let cool entirely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Whip the softened cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth.
2. Add the salt, vanilla, and lemon, and add the powdered sugar a bit at a time until the frosting reaches your desired texture, thickness, and taste. This recipe is very flexible and forgiving, so add or subtract ingredients until it tastes like how you want it!
3. Frost your cooled carrot cake layers, top with cinnamon and coconut (optional) and enjoy 😌🥕