RECIPE

Carrot Cake with
Cream Cheese Frosting

FEBRUARY 3, 2021
EDITED ON JUNE 4, 2021
[ SKIP TO RECIPE ]
Happy National Carrot Cake Day! Carrot cake is hugely underrated.

But before we dive into it, I want to document my feelings in this moment so that I can reflect on it in the future. One year ago, for the month of February, the daily discussions revolved around this mysterious virus that was spreading gradually across the globe. I remember spending a day with a dear friend in downtown Toronto to celebrate my 30th birthday. We talked about the increased racial assaults on Asians, especially East Asians, since the world had learned of the origins of the virus. We also told ourselves that everything will be okay as long as we stay healthy, wash our hands and sneeze/cough into our elbows, as per usual. Little did we know then that we’d eventually be locked down 2 weeks later in mid-March.

Yesterday, I celebrated my 31st birthday. I always felt that I was 30 when I turned 29, so when I did turned 30, it felt like an extension of the age for another year. Now, having been home majority of the year, I feel like my “30th year” just got extended again. It feels strange and indifferent. 

Since the holidays, work has slowed down significantly. With the down time, I have a lot of time to cook. I’m usually not a big fan of cake for birthdays. However, I have been watching quite a few cake decorating and icing videos on social media, and it got me interested in doing a full cake for my birthday. I went with the carrot cake recipe by The Delicious Everyday Blog. I made it for the first time in 2014, and never stopped making it since at least once a year. Over the years, I’ve adjusted the recipe to my own palate. 

The cream cheese frosting recipe is a generic one, though I did reduce the sugar since I always prefer less sweet and more savoury desserts. Icing the cake without a proper offset spatula was definitely difficult. I ended up using an offset painter’s palette… I mean… it worked alright… I think! It didn’t matter because I did a silly thing and the backdrop slammed down on the cake and made the frosting buckle while I tried to get some photos. *sigh*

This is an extremely moist, flavourful carrot cake. If you like cinnamon and nutmeg sort of flavours, you will probably LOVE this.

Recipe adaptable from Delicious Everyday.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 1 x 3-layer 6″ cake, about 12-18 servings
 
INGREDIENTS

Carrot Cake

    • 350g of fresh carrots, peeled and washed
    • ½ cup of pecans
    • 5 large eggs
    • 200g of light brown sugar/golden yellow sugar
    • 1 tsp of baking powder
    • ½ tsp of baking soda
    • ¼ tsp fine sea salt
    • 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
    • ¼ tsp of nutmeg
    • ¼ tsp of clove
    • ¾ tsp of ground ginger
    • 1 tsp of fresh ginger, grated
    • 250g of almond flour
  •  

Cream Cheese Frosting

    • 8oz of cream cheese, soften
    • ½ cup of unsalted butter, soften
    • ½ tsp of vanilla extract
    • ¼ tsp of salt
    • 2 ½ cups of icing sugar
    • ½ cup of pecans, chopped (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS

Making the Carrot Cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease the bottom and side of three 6-in cake round pans, or two 8-in cake round pans.* Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. Shred the carrots in a food processor. Transfer to a large bowl.
  3. Process the 1/2 cup of pecans in the food processor, pulse until the pecans turn into a coarse ground. Transfer into the same bowl with the shredded carrots. Set aside.
  4. In the food processor, add in the eggs, baking powder, baking soda, fresh ginger, all the spices, and sugar. Pulse until the wet mixture is mixed thoroughly.
  5. Add in the almond flour. Pulse until well mixed.
  6. Pour the batter into the shredded carrots and pecans. With a spatula, mix until all the carrots and pecans are well incorporated into the batter.
  7. Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans.
  8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the oven, or until there’s no wet batter sticking to the toothpick when you insert it into the centre of the cakes.*
  9. Let the cakes cool in the cake pans before removing. Make sure the cakes are cooled completed before icing.

Making the Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. Meanwhile the cakes are baking, place the cold cream cheese and unsalted butter into a large mixing bowl and set aside. By the time the cakes are cooled completely, the cream cheese and butter should be soft enough to work with.
  2. With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.
  3. Mix in the vanilla extract and salt.
  4. Mix in the icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until all of it is incorporated. Add up to 1/2 cup more icing sugar if you prefer a sweeter cake.
  5. Assemble the cake!

Optional: gently press the chopped pecan onto the sides, or sprinkle on top of the cake.

* I have made this recipe in two 6-in round cake pans by adjusting the bake time to 50 minutes.

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