Carrot cake

Carrot cake

Delight in a moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting when you are in the mood for something sweet bursting with flavours. It is a classic sure to entice cake-lovers of all ages and it is perfect for dessert, a sweet snack, or an afternoon treat for guests. For even more flavour and texture, we added walnuts and raisins and topped it with lemon-infused cream cheese frosting and chopped walnuts, making it simply irresistible. Take the kids with you and enjoy how easy this cake is – just as easy as it is delicious. Try our recipe for carrot cake with cream cheese frosting next time you want to bake and serve something scrumptiously good to treat yourself, your family, or guests!

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Ingredients

Carrot cake:

Soft butter
300 g
Brown sugar (about 5 dl)
300 g
Eggs
4
Flour (about 5 dl)
300 g
Cinnamon
3 tsp
Baking powder
3 tsp
Finely grated carrots (about 450 g)
7
Chopped walnuts
100 g
Raisins
2 dl

Creme cheese frosting:

Cream cheese, natural
400 g
Icing sugar (about 1 dl)
100 g
Finely grated lemon zest (unsprayed)
4 tsp
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 tsp

Garnish:

Chopped walnuts
Finely grated lemon zest (unsprayed)

Instructions

Carrot cake:

  • Preheat oven to 175°C regular oven.
  • Beat butter, brown sugar, and egg well.
  • Mix flour, cinnamon, and baking powder and fold into the butter mixture, alternating with carrots, walnuts, and raisins.
  • Distribute batter in a cake pan (approx. 20 cm x 20 cm) lined with baking sheets and bake in the middle of the oven for about 1 hour.

Cream cheese frosting:

  • Cut cream cheese into smaller pieces and mix well with icing sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Be precise when measuring icing sugar; if too much is added, the frosting will be thin.
  • Frost the cold carrot cake and garnish with walnuts and lemon zest.
Enjoy!

Tips

Our recipe for carrot cake with cream cheese frosting can also be used to bake deliciously moist carrot cake muffins. They are perfect for breakfast, as a sweet snack, or on the go as they are easy to bring with you. Simply, pour about ½ dl of batter into a lined or greased muffin tin or silicone muffin liners and bake the muffins in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes at 200°C regular oven. Decorate the carrot cake muffins with frosting, just like the cake, and enjoy!

Tips

For both these muffins and the cake, you can use the toothpick test to figure out if it is done. Insert the toothpick into the centre to see if the crumb has set. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake or muffins are done. If it comes away either gummy or with crumbs sticking to it, they need a bit more time in the oven – but remember not to overbake the muffins or cake. Baking times may depend on your oven so there is no need to despair if the baking time is a little longer than anticipated.

Questions about carrot cake

Our recipe makes it easy to bake a beautifully moist carrot cake from scratch. Below, you can learn more about the classic cake by reading the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about carrot cakes.

What is in a carrot cake?

In an old-fashioned, classic recipe, the cake contains fresh, grated carrots and walnuts. Fruits like raisin or pineapple are often added to take the cake's natural sweetness even farther. To off-set this sweetness, the cake is usually frosted using a delicious and tangy frosting with cream cheese, making the famous and irresistible pairing of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

How to make carrot cake?

Simply make a wet mixture from butter, sugar, and egg, and fold the dry ingredients into this mixture alternating with delicious carrots, walnuts, and raisins. Bake your cake until a toothpick or knife comes out clean from the middle and allow for it to cool completely. When the cake is cold enough, frost it with homemade cream cheese frosting and serve the scrumptiously moist cake garnished with walnuts and lemon zest.

Can you freeze carrot cake with cream cheese frosting?

Freezing a carrot cake, frosted or unfrosted, is entirely possible. Simply, allow the cake to cool completely, either frost it or leave it unfrosted, place it in an uncovered container in the freezer for two hours, take out the frozen cake, and wrap it, first in cling film then in aluminium foil, before placing it back in the airtight container and into the freezer. Following these steps prevents freezer burn and ensure the cake’s textural quality. An unfrosted cake will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer. Let the cake thaw overnight in the refrigerator and let it sit at room-temperature for a bit before serving.

How to decorate a carrot cake?

The decorations – i.e., decorating the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and chopped walnuts, are quite simple, but they can be used to give the cake a beautiful appearance in addition to providing a great layer of flavour. Adding fruit colour to the frosting is an option if you want to experiment with making fun decorations for your cake – perhaps something like small carrots in vibrant orange and green colours. Using different piping tips and techniques can also help create an impressive look with swirls, rosettes, etc.

Does carrot cake need to be refrigerated?

Without frosting, the cake does not need to be refrigerated if you plan on eating it within approx. 2 days. Simply store in an airtight container placed somewhere that is not too hot. If not, place the cake container in the refrigerator instead. A frosted cake always needs to be stored in the refrigerator. Otherwise, the frosting may start to thin, losing its silky texture, and eventually spoil. Take the cake out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before serving to make sure it is room-temperature and has its signature soft mouthfeel.

How long does carrot cake last?

How long the cake will keep depends on how it is stored and whether or not it is frosted. An unfrosted cake will keep for up to 7 days in the refrigerator and about 2 days on the countertop. A frosted cake should keep for 5 days in the refrigerator if properly stored. The easiest way to store a frosted cake like this one without ruining its decorations is to keep in a large, airtight cake dome.

How to grate carrots for carrot cake?

The easiest way to grate or shred carrots you want to use for cakes is to use the small side of a box grater. It is recommended to grate the carrots finely rather than going for larger chunks as the finely grated carrot is more evenly distributed throughout the cake batter. This gives the finished cake a more even texture that is moist and dense. It is best to use fresh carrots rather than pre-shredded ones as these tend to be much harder and drier.

What frosting for carrot cake?

The best frosting to use for a sweet and dense cake like this one is a homemade cream cheese frosting. The silky-smooth texture and slight sourness of a cream cheese frosting with lemon complements the sweetness and denseness of a carrot cake perfectly, creating a match made in heaven. Let the cream cheese sit in room-temperature for a while before making the frosting to ensure a smooth and lump-free texture.

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Classic and easy carrot cake with walnut

A homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is a hit with most people for a reason – it is simply delicious! It has a rich and dense texture, and it tastes wonderful with a slightly sour frosting to off-set the sweetness of carrots and raisins. Our carrot cake with walnuts and raisins is easy to make and even easier to indulge in. Using walnuts adds a crunchy texture to break with the cake's otherwise soft consistency, and their nutty flavour works well with the sweet spiciness from the cake’s brown sugar and cinnamon.

Cream cheese frosting for carrot cake

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is an unbeatable classic, and you can hardly have one without the other. The freshness of tangy cream cheese frosting is great with this kind of sweet cake. When the frosting is made with freshly squeezed lemon juice as well as freshly grated lemon zest, the zing it brings to the sweet, moist cake makes for a perfect combination of well-rounded flavours. The textures complement each other beautifully, too, with the light and silky cream cheese frosting elevating the dense richness of the cake itself.

If you cannot get enough of the combination of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, try using our recipe for cream cheese frosting with other types of muffins and cakes like our quick and easy banana muffins or intense coffee cake.

Moist and sweetened with carrots and raisins

The well-loved cake is known for its moistness as well as deliciously dense texture, and our recipe showcases this to a tee. The fresh carrots in the batter make for a soft and deliciously moist experience, made even sweeter by the addition of chewy raisins to add texture to the cake, making carrot cake with raisins an irresistible burst of sweet flavour and various textures and a scrumptious dessert or snack; only enhanced by the crunchy walnuts.

Experiment with carrot cake spices and flavours

Though most carrot cake recipes already have spices included in their ingredient lists, just like ours calls for cinnamon, you can easily mix up the classic cake by adding other spices to the batter. A spiced carrot cake with cardamom, nutmeg, and ginger, for example, makes for a warming experience that is perfectly balanced by the silky-smooth cream cheese frosting. The assertive flavour of the ginger especially works as a pleasing contrast to the sweetness of the carrots and frosting.

For an even crunchier texture, try mixing the walnuts with caramel. Simply melt some caster sugar on a pan until brown, add the walnuts and toss until the walnuts are covered. Let it cool down, and then break it apart before sprinkling over the frosting.

Pineapple carrot cake

Another delicious variation is a pineapple carrot cake. Using crushed pineapple will make for a remarkably moist cake with a lot of additional sweetness as the sweet fruit acts as a tenderiser. It will not add a lot of pineapple flavour to the cake, but since it contains a naturally sweet flavour, it will sweeten it even more than the carrots. Using pineapple will ensure the cake’s moistness while still allowing you to enjoy the well-known flavours of a classic carrot cake with cream cheese frosting on top.

If using pineapple to experiment with this classic recipe has piqued your interest, you may be intrigued to know that we also have a recipe for a fluffy pineapple soufflé – for when you want to mix up another dessert classic using fresh fruit.

https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/carrot-cake/