My Daughter’s Favorite Carrot Cake

27 Comments

I made this carrot cake for my daughter’s birthday. Her neighbor made her a cake a while back and my daughter loved it so much that she asked her for the recipe. She put the recipe on the side of her refrigerator but never made it. I asked my granddaughter to take a picture of the recipe and send it to me.

I cut a piece from the cake just so you could see what the inside looked like. It was so moist and the cream cheese frosting was delicious too. I put the piece back into the cake and spread the frosting so you couldn’t even tell by looking at it, see what I do for my followers. 🤣

Spray the bottom of the pans with cooking oil. Cut oven safe parchment paper and place it on the bottom of whatever size cake pan you use.

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients with a whisk.

In a large bowl beat on low speed the oil, vanilla and eggs until combined.

Add the dry ingredients (1/3 at a time) with the egg mixture and beat on low just until combined.

Add the shredded carrots and optional pineapple, raisins or nuts. (I only added the optional pineapple)

With a large spoon or spatula, fold in the carrots (and optional ingredients) to the batter to combine.

Pour the batter into prepared pan(s).

Bake in a preheated 350º oven. For two 9” round pans bake 30-35 minutes, two 8” pans for 35-40 minutes or an 9” x 13” pan for 35-40 minutes. For all sizes, they are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack.

MAKE THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: In a large bowl add the softened cream cheese, softened butter and vanilla extract. Beat with a mixer on low speed until combined.

Add one cup of powdered sugar, mix on low speed until combined. Add 1 Tbsp of the liquid and mix. Repeat until powdered sugar is gone. If the consistency is too stiff, end with more milk. If it is too wet add a little powdered sugar. Taste after you mix each time and make sure it is sweet enough. My daughter likes it sweet so I used four cups of the powdered sugar, if you don’t like it as sweet, you may not want the full four cups, adjust to your own taste.

Frost the cake, if you added nuts to the cake, you can sprinkle more nuts on the top of the frosting if you want.

Then serve.

My Daughter's Favorite Carrot Cake

  • Difficulty: Intermediate
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http://www.InDianesKitchen.com

Ingredients

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1½ tsp cinnamon 
  • 1¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 eggs
  • 3 cups peeled & shredded carrots (shred your own the stores will be too dried out)

OPTIONAL- ADDITIONAL CAKE INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup crushed and drained pineapple
  • 1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
  • 1 cup raisins 

FROSTING INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup softened butter, (1 stick)
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened (brick style not the spreadable kind)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (or to your taste) 
  • Approximately 1/2 cup milk, half and half or heavy cream

Directions

MAKE THE CAKE:

  1. Preheat oven to 350º.
  2. Spray the bottom of the pans with cooking oil. Cut oven safe parchment paper and place it on the bottom of whatever size cake pan you use.
  3. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients with a whisk.
  4. In a large bowl beat on low speed the oil, vanilla and eggs until combined.
  5. Add the dry ingredients (1/3 at a time) with the egg mixture and beat on low just until combined.
  6. Add the shredded carrots and optional pineapple, raisins or nuts. With a large spoon or spatula, fold them into the batter to combine then pour the batter evenly into prepared pan(s).
  7. Bake in a preheated 350º oven. For two 9” round pans bake 30-35 minutes, two 8” pans for 35-40 minutes or an 9” x 13” pan for 35-40 minutes. For all sizes, they are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack.

MAKE THE FROSTING:

  1. In a large bowl add the softened cream cheese, softened butter and vanilla extract. Beat with a mixer on low speed until combined.
  2. Add one cup of powdered sugar, mix on low speed until combined.
  3. Add 1 Tbsp of the liquid and mix.
  4. Repeat until powdered sugar is gone. If the consistency is too stiff, end with more liquid. If it is too wet add a little powdered sugar. Taste after you mix each time and make sure it is sweet enough. My daughter likes it sweet so I used four cups of the powdered sugar, if you don’t like it as sweet, you may not want the full four cups, adjust to your own taste.
  5. Frost the cake, if you added nuts to the cake, you can sprinkle more nuts on the top of the frosting if you want.

http://www.InDianesKitchen.com

Categories: Butter, Cheese, Cream Cheese, Desserts, Eggs, Flour, Frosting/Icing, Powdered sugar, Vanilla Extract, Vegetables/Slaws/Salads

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27 Comments »

  5. Looks delicious, Diane. What a generous serving of carrots in that cake. And yummy icing too. That was very nice of you to bake this for your daughter. Happy birthday to her!

    Reply

    • Well of course I did and she never knew until I told her. 🤣 She loves cream cheese frosting so I doubled up on the recipe. I always run out of frosting, or it’s too thin, when I make a two layer cake, not this time!

      Reply

    • This is the first year I gave her carrot cake. She always wanted white cake with buttercream frosting but as much as she raved about this cake I knew it would be a hit. Now she wants it every year. Lol

      Reply

    • Thank you, Beth. She will get a 9×13 one from now on. It was difficult getting the cake out of the pan, however, had I used parchment paper it probably wouldn’t have been an issue. Oh, and did I mention I will leave the cake in the glass baking dish? haha

      Reply

  9. This cake looks delicious. When my husband decides he wants carrot cake, he buys a mix. That is something I will never understand. II tastes so processed and dry. You might as well call it a spice cake.

    Reply

  10. Ha ha – you are good to us Diane and no, you could not tell that you removed a piece for a photo, then replaced it. 🙂 It does look moist. Cream cheese icing always tastes good

    Reply

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