SUPER MOIST CARROT CAKE RECIPE

CARROT CAKE RECIPE

Moist, dense, and flavorful — who doesn't love carrot cake? Especially when it's topped with rich cream cheese icing. This much-requested recipe is easily customized to taste.I've tried many carrot cakes, and this is my favorite recipe. 

Beneath this towering yet unpretentious appearance lies multiple layers of moist, mildly spiced cake that are flecked with carrots and walnuts and enveloped by a generous coating of cream cheese frosting. Carrot Cake never goes out of style. This recipe is for 20 cm ( 8 inch) cake pan. 

Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting :
400 gr OR 2,5 cups of icing sugar
100 gr OR 1/2 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
250 gr OR 1 cup of cream cheese, cold
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbs of orange zest ( optional)

For the cake :
300 ml OR 1 1/4 CUP of vegetable or sunflower oil
350 gr OR 2 3/4 CUP of plain flour
2 tbsp of cinnamon
1 tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp of baking powder
150 gr OR 3/4 cup caster sugar
150 gr OR 3/4 light brown or brown sugar
4 medium eggs
1 zested orange and 2 zested lemons
350 gr OR 3 CUPS of grated carrots
100 gr OR 1 cup of unsweetened coconut
100 gr OR 1 CUP of wallnuts ( chopped)
2 tsp of vanilla extract
200 gr OR 1 CUP of sultanas or raisins
200 gr OR 1 cup of canned pineapple ( optional) 

Directions 

Step 1 : Preheat your oven to 150 C or 300F. 
Step 2 : Line two of your cake tins with some parchment paper and coat with cooking spray or butter. 
Step 3 : In a bowl, sift through all your dry ingredients, baking powder, soda, plain flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix through. Set aside.
Step 4 : Using your stand mixer or whisk, add eggs into a large bowl, then vanilla extract, brown and caster sugar with oil and mix it through. Then add your flour mixture. 
Step 5 : Add your coconut shreds, raisins, wallnuts, grated carrots, lemon and orange zest and pineapple. Give it all a mix. Its ready. 
Step 6 : Divide the mixture evenly between cakes ( I like to weight it, so they are exactly the same) . Bake the cake for about 2 hours, but keep checking depends on your oven. If the skewer comes out clean, its ready. 
Step 7 : Take cakes out and let them completely cool down. Don't cut hot cakes as they will fall apart and will be very difficult to work with. 
Step 8 : Once your cakes have cooled down, cut them in half. 
Step 9 : Place first cake layer onto your decorating plate, they will be very fragile so do it straight away. Add some cream cheese frosting and then top with second layer of the cake. Keep repeating the process until your cake is done. I usually go for a bit of a rustic look. Go around edges and decorate the edges with some cake crumbs or crushed walnuts. 
Step 10 : This is optional, but set aside about 1-2 tbsp of cream cheese frosting and add green and orange food colouring. Then place into ziplock bags and draw carrots on top of each cake slice. It gives it a nice tough but you dont have to do it. 
Step 11 : Place the cake into the fridge for at least 1 hour. Then cut and enjoy with hot tea or coffee. I found that the cake tastes even better the next day since all the flavours had time to develop even more. 

Watch the video here:

Lots of Love,

Alla xox