Cake · Baking

Perfectly Spiced Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is one of those classics that never goes out of style and this version is the reason why. The cake itself is incredibly moist, spiced just right, and loaded with finely grated carrot that disappears into the batter beautifully. The cream cheese frosting is tangy, silky, and cloud-like applied generously because that is the only way. It gets better with time, which means leftover slices the next day are genuinely something to look forward to. This is the cake that converts people who think they do not like carrot cake.

Ingredients

For the cake

256g shredded carrots
120g sweetened shredded coconut
83g raisins
300g sugar
237ml vegetable oil
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
250g all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2–3 tsp Carrot Cake Tea, finely ground

For the frosting

114g unsalted butter, room temperature
142g cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
360g powdered sugar

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line two 9-inch square cake pans.
2 Grind the carrot cake tea loose leaves to powder.
3 In a large bowl, combine carrots, coconut, raisins, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and the tea powder.
4 In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
5 Stir dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined, then transfer to the pans.
6 Bake for 25–30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely.
7 Whip butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar, and whip to combine (about 2 more minutes).
8 Once the cake is cooled, cut into pieces and top with the cream cheese whipped cream.

Tips & Notes

Squeeze out any excess moisture from the grated carrots before adding to the batter. The cream cheese frosting is best applied when the cake is completely cool. This cake actually tastes better the next day once all the flavours have had time to meld.