Cake · Baking

Perfectly Spiced Carrot Cake

This is my most requested recipe by people who know me personally. I have been making this carrot cake for years and it has gone through many iterations before arriving at this version. The cream cheese frosting is the part I feel most strongly about. It should be thick, it should be tangy, and there should be a lot of it.

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. 1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line two 9-inch square cake pans.
2. 2 Grind the carrot cake tea loose leaves to powder.
3. 3 In a large bowl, combine carrots, coconut, raisins, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and the tea powder.
4. 4 In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
5. 5 Stir dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined, then transfer to the pans.
6. 6 Bake for 25–30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely.
7. 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. 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.