This week I wanted to share a new addition to Baked By Archana’s collection of recipes- a scrumptious carrot cake! Like most young adults and children, I was obsessed with chocolate and vanilla flavors for cakes, cupcakes and frosting. It was only after I took a baking class at the Institute of Culinary Education that I discovered that I prefer complex flavors that blend salty, sweet and sometimes even savory in my desserts.
I tried carrot cake as a young adult and distinctly remember not liking it. So I have avoided it at all costs for many years. I love baking from scratch and testing out new cake, frosting and filling flavors.
Some of my Favorite Recipes:
- Spiced pumpkin cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting
- Key lime cupcakes with graham cracker crust, key lime filling and key lime buttercream
- Pecan, pumpkin and apple pie with homemade crust
- Strawberry tarts with pastry cream
One of my hobbies is experimenting with gluten free baking. A new recipe favorite is Tone It Up’s carrot, apple and cardamom muffins, which uses brown rice flour and coconut palm sugar. They are AMAZING and HEALTHY. I realized then that I was clearly missing out on carrot flavored treats!
Carrot Cake Baking Tips
A friend asked me to bake a carrot cake using her mother’s recipe. I was excited to make my first carrot cake from scratch. When making this cake, there are some pieces of equipment that will facilitate the process.
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer: I LOVE this mixer and use it not only for baking, but also for making meatballs and burgers. You can use a hand mixer or even a standard whisk, but trust me, the KitchenAid will save you a lot of time.
- KitchenAid Rotor Slicer/Shredder attachment: You can use a regular grater, but the attachment shreds carrots quickly and it can go in the dishwasher. For this recipe, you will need THREE cups of carrots, so the attachment will be handy.
- Calphalon 10-Piece: This bakeware set is great for baking cakes, brownies, bread, cupcakes and more.
XOXO Archana
The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond
Mae West
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 1 Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 3 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Cup Organic Pastry Flour
- 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
- 3 Tsp Cinnamon
- 2 Tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
- 1/4 Tsp Nutmeg
- 3 Cups Grated Carrots firmly packed
- 8 ounce Can Crushed Pineapple
- 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 3/4 Cup Butter Softened
- 12 Ounces Cream Cheese
- 4-5 Cups Powdered Sugar depending on how sweet you like your frosting
- 1.5 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
- 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
Instructions
Carrot Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Create wax paper circles
- Grease 2 8-inch cake pans with olive oil and line with wax paper circles and grease again
- Blend oil, sugars and eggs in the Kitchen-Aid mixing bowl
- Blend in vanilla
- In separate bowl, combine flours, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg
- Mix dry ingredients into liquid ingredients and beat on 2-3 speed until throughly mixed
- Stir in carrots, pineapple (with juices) and walnuts
- Pour into pans and bake for 35 minutes (test cake with toothpick)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Whip butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract
- Move the cake to a cake board, cake turntable or cake plate
- Place some frosting on the top of the first layer and then gently place the second layer over the first
- Frost the outside of the cake
- Place the walnuts on the outside of the cake and use wax paper to gently press against the side
- Refrigerate the cake and gently press the cake with wax paper again
- Use a star tip #21 to add a shell border and pipe carrots with orange frosting with tip #12 and pipe green string tops with tip #233
- Store cake in airtight cake/cupcake carrier
i love carrot cake! But I can’t get my family to even try it!
Carrot cake is a family favorite here. We love it with pineapple, pecans, and raisins. It is absolutely delicious.
My husband is obsessed with carrot cake!! This sounds great!
Carrot cake is one of my all time favorite cakes! My friend makes a good one. Never thought about making one myself! Will save this recipe!
Wow, this carrot cake is so pretty and looks really delicious. I will definitely making this recipe for my family and I hope it will turn good as yours.
Wow this cake looks really pretty and delicious! I hope I could recreate this sometime, glad you shared the recipe with us! Thank you!
i haven’t had carrot cake ever but it really sounds very delicious and tasty..will love to check this out once in my life..am glad that you shared it with us..Thanks indeed..
Carrot cake is one of the only cakes I like. It’s not too sweet and tastes delicious.
Ooooh I absolutely LOVE carrot cake. This looks totally delish!
Carrot cake is so delicious aside from being healthy. Thank you for sharing your own version!
Carrot cake has got to be my favorite dessert and I love making it for my family all the time.
Oh my God!this is perfect.i’ve never had carrot cake but now I’m doing to try it.
When I visit my fave pastry shop. I always ordered their delicious carrot cake. and this recipe looks perfect I will have to try this one.
This recipe really looks yummy. Thanks for sharing. I would love to eat it.