Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

5 from 26 votes

Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Delicious moist carrot cake baked from scratch with crisp walnuts and sweet raisins, layered with rich delicious cream cheese frosting. A simple, easy and effortless one bowl recipe that you will enjoy making over and over again. Delicious on its own as a tea time snack or dressed for any celebration with my luscious cream cheese frosting to create an exotic dessert.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cakes, carrot, carrot cake recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings Servings

Calories 887kcal

Author Veena Azmanov

Cost $10

Equipment

Stand Mixer
Kitchen Scale
Meas Cups and Spoons
Cake Pan 8-inch

Ingredients

For the cake

2 cups All-purpose flour
⅓ cup Oil flavorless like canola or grapeseed
3 Eggs large
1 ⅓ cup Light Brown sugar
1 ½ tsp Baking powder
¾ tsp Baking soda
½ cup Sour cream
1 ½ cup Carrots shredded
¾ cup Walnuts finely chopped
¾ cup Raisins finely chopped
2 tsp Vanilla extract
½ tsp Salt

No-butter cream cheese frosting

1 lb Cream cheese
1 lb Powdered sugar
2 tbsp Whipping cream
2 tbsp Cornstarch
½ tsp Lemon juice
2 tbsp Vanilla extract
½ tsp Salt

Metric - US customary

Instructions

Bake cake

Preheat the oven to 160 C / 320 F.
Grease and line two 8-inch round cake pans.
Swift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt - and set aside.
Grate carrots - set aside.
In a mixing bowl with the whisk attachment, whip eggs for a minute then gradually add the sugar a little at a time.
Continue to whip until light and foamy (ribbon stage).
Next, while still whipping gradually add in the sour cream and oil.
Now, add the carrot, walnuts, and raisins to the flour mixture (do this now not too early).
Then, add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.
Finally, add the vanilla.
Pour into the prepared baking pan.
Bake in a preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the cake completely before frosting.

Prepare no-butter cream cheese frosting

Add room temperature cream cheese, lemon juice, cornstarch, salt and whipping cream in a mixer bowl.
Whip on medium speed for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until you've used 2 cups of the powdered sugar.
Lastly, add the vanilla.
Continue to mix on medium-high for a minute until light and fluffy.

Assemble

Make sure the cakes are completely cool before frosting or the frosting will melt.
Cut off any domes from the cakes to make them flat.
Place the cake on a cake board, platter or cake stand.
Top with cream cheese frosting.
Place the second layer on top and add more cream cheese frosting.
If desired, you can also frost the sides of the cake.
Place remaining frosting in a piping bag with a star tip and pipe a border.

Notes

6 Tips for making the perfect carrot cake

How you grate the carrots will determine the texture of the cake. Thickly grated carrots will give a lighter desired texture while finely grated carrots will give a denser texture.
Use fresh tender carrots as they are sweeter. Do not use baby carrots as they tend to have too much moisture in them. Too much moisture can make the cake collapse.
Use flavorless cooking oil, such as canola and grapeseed. Oils like olive or avocado while healthy are very strong in flavor and give this cake a very savory taste.
Whip the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy then start adding the oil gradually similar to making mayonnaise. This is what helps give a light and airy cake.
Bake the cake until just done, and a skewer inserted into the center comes clean. Overbaking the cake will give a dark hard crust.
If possible use more baking pans rather than cutting the cake for layers. It's easier and less messy. Alternatively, wrap and chill the cake for an hour before you layer them. This will give fewer crumbs and make frosting the cake easier.

Featured recipe in the post shows carrot cupcakes which uses a variation of this recipe

Nutrition