Carrot Cake

4.50 from 4 votes

This is the Best Carrot Cake recipe you will ever make! The cake is incredibly moist, dense and packed full of flavour from the addition of roasted walnuts, spices, pineapple and carrots. We top the carrot cake off with a cream cheese icing and decorated with more walnuts.

Prep Time40

Cook Time40

Total Time1 20

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: Slices

Calories: 487kcal

Author: Emma Burton

Ingredients

Carrot Cake

1 Cup Vegetable Oil (250ml)
1 and ½ Cups Brown Sugar (250g)
¾ Cup Sugar (150g)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 Large Eggs
432 g Tin Crushed Pineapple
3 and ¼ Cups All Purpose Flour (410g)
2 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 and ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Cloves
¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
¼ teaspoon Ground Ginger
¼ teaspoon Salt
3 Cups Carrots, Grated (Around 3-4 carrots) (300g)
1 Cup Walnuts (or pecans, pistachios, almonds) (120g)

Cream Cheese Icing;

1 Cup Cream Cheese, Room temperature (250g)
½ Cup Butter, Softened (110g)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 and ½ - 3 Cups Icing Sugar (320g-380g)

Decorating;

½ Cup Almonds or Walnuts (Optional) (60g)

Metric - US Conventional

Instructions

Carrot Cake;

Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Chop the walnuts (or whatever nuts you use) into small pieces and place in the oven to roast for around 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and carry on with the recipe.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and line two 24cm or 9" round spring form cake pans and set aside. (Or 3 20cm or 8" round cake pans).
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt in a bowl and stir together.
Add the oil, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, vanilla and tinned pineapple to a bowl and beat together.
Grate the carrots and add them to the cake batter.
Add in the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined.
Finally fold through the roasted walnuts and then pour the batter into the two cake pans evenly.
Place in the oven to bake for 35-45 minutes. A skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes should come out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool in the cake pans for 10 minutes before removing and placing on a cooling rack to cool to room temperature while you make the cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing;

Beat the butter until smooth.
Add in the cream cheese and beat together until smooth.
Add in the vanilla extract and slowly add the icing sugar until all combined.

Putting it altogether;

Using ⅓-1/2 of the icing, fill the cake, you can pipe this or spread this. Then top the cake with the remaining icing. You can cover the sides, pipe like I have or however you like.
Then top the cake with the remaining icing. You can cover the sides, pipe like I have or however you like.
I like to use a little bit of icing to cover the top and sides of the cake and place it in the fridge for an hour or so to firm up (a crumb coat) so the icing looks cleaner.
Decorate however you like. I placed almonds on my cake but you can use any nut or none at all.

Video

Notes

Ingredient notes:

- Crushed Pineapple: The crushed pineapple is not an optional add-in. This is a wet ingredient and the result is an incredibly moist carrot cake. The flavour of the pineapple is not overpowering in anyway.

- Toasted Walnuts: The addition of the toasted walnuts (or any nut you prefer) is an optional addition. I personal love the nuttiness in my carrot cake but you can omit these if you wish.

Storage notes:

The carrot cake can last for 2 to 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature, 5 to 7 days in an airtight container the refrigerator, and up to 3 to 4 months properly stored in the freezer.

Nutrition