Spiced Carrot Cake
Equipment
- 1 food processor grating attachment
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 Medium mixing bowl
- 2 round cake tins 9-inch
- 1 large cooling rack
- 1 hand mixer
Ingredients
Spiced Carrot Cake
- 4 cups peeled & grated carrots (approx 7 carrots)
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1¼ cups olive oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 cup brown sugar lightly packed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans) chopped
- 1 cup dried fruit (dates, raisins, dried cranberries, or apricots) chopped
- 2 teaspoons baking soda level (not heaped)
- 1½ teaspoons cinnamon ground
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg ground
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- ¾ teaspoon ginger ground
- ½ teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces (or 225g) cream cheese room temperature
- 1½ cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup walnuts or pecans, to garnish chopped
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch optional
Instructions
Spiced Carrot Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350℉ (or 180℃).
- Grease and flour your two 9-inch round cake tins then line the bottom of the tins with parchment paper. Make sure to then grease and flour the parchment paper, too.
- Use the grating attachment on your food processor to grate the carrots.
- Into a large bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt), baking soda and sugar. Stir to combine.
- Into the medium bowl, add the four eggs. Whisk well.
- Into the same medium bowl with the whisked eggs, add the wet ingredients: olive (or vegetable) oil, vanilla essence. Stir to combine.
- Gradually fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Add the grated carrot - about a cup at a time - into the cake mixture. Stir well to combine after each cup.
- When the grated carrot is well mixed into the cake batter, add half the chopped nuts and half the chopped dried fruit. Stir to combine.
- Add the remaining nuts and dried fruit. Stir well.
- Spoon the cake batter equally between your two 9-inch cake tins, and slide them onto the lower-mid shelf in your preheated oven.
- Set the oven timer for 45 minutes. Test for readiness using a metal skewer or clean knife blade. The top of the cakes should not be jiggly, and the skewer or knife should come out quite clean.
- Wash the medium mixing bowl. You will use it to make the cream cheese frosting while the cake is cooling.
- When the cakes are done, take them out of the oven and allow them to rest on a cooling rack for 10 minutes in their tins.
- After 10 minutes, turn the cakes out onto the cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Add the cream cheese to the medium mixing bowl and beat for a couple of minutes, or until it is creamy.
- Gradually add in the powdered sugar, cornstarch (if you're using it) and heavy cream and continue mixing for a couple of minutes. The frosting texture should resemble soft peaks.
- Chill the frosting in the refrigerator until the cakes have completely cooled. Only when they have cooled completely should you attempt to smother the top of one cake in approximately ⅓ of the cream cheese frosting.
- Add the second cake on top of the frosted cake. Ensure the bottom of the top cake is resting neatly on the top of the bottom cake.
- Smother the top of the second cake using ⅓ of the remaining frosting.
- Use the last ⅓ of the frosting to smear around the sides of both cakes using a large flat-blade knife.
- Garnish the top with chopped nuts, and serve.
Notes
One of the (many!) great things about this spiced carrot cake is that it's so versatile. You can use walnuts or pecans or even slivered almonds. You can use raisins, sultanas, chopped dates, thinly sliced dried apricots, or halved dried cranberries. You can adjust the recipe to suit your taste, your visitors' tastes, and what's available in your pantry or local store.
Nutrition
Calories: 560kcal
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