Maybe you’ve been wondering how to bake a carrot cake and I declare myself an obsessed carrot cake lover and no, I’m not a rabbit. To be honest, I love cakes, in general, but Carrot Cake and Cheesecake are my soul, my air, my happiness wand. Either you are a Carrot Cake lover like me, or you never tried it before, be ready to reorder your top sweets.
Carrot cake was voted as the favorite cake in the United Kingdom, according to a survey in the Radio Times in 2011.
The origins of carrot cake are disputed, but according to food historians, carrot cake most likely descended from the medieval period, enjoyed by people in Europe. In that time, sweeteners were expensive so people started to use carrots mostly because they were more affordable and contained more sugar than other vegetables. (History source: carrotmuseum.co.uk)
Many carrot cake recipes include optional ingredients, such as kirsch, cinnamon, nuts, pineapple or raisins. The most common icing are:
- sugar and lemon juice
- sugar and kirsch – ‘cherry water’ (Europe)
- sugar, butter and cream cheese (United States).
DO YOU LIKE SMOOTHIES? CHECK OUT HERE 25 SMOOTHIE RECIPES!
How To Bake Carrot Cake
My favorite recipe is the US one, with the cream cheese, and the one I will introduce you to.
Ingredients:
- For the cake
- 500 g carrots grated (and squeezed)
- 200 g white flour
- 150 g sugar
- 100 g brown sugar
- 1 baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (for my personal taste I use 2 teaspoons)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (for my personal taste I use 2 teaspoons)
- 200 ml vegetable oil
- 100 g crushed walnuts/almonds/pecans (whatever you love)
- 4 whole eggs
- a pinch of salt
- a dose of smile
- For the icing-filling
- 600 g cream cheese Philadelphia room temperature
- 300 g powder sugar
- 200 g butter room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- grated lemon
- a doze of love
How To Bake Carrot Cake – Preparing The Cake
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a mixing bowl, mix sugar with the eggs until it turns into foam. Then add the oil and mix them shortly. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Fold dry ingredients gradually into wet mixture and blend well. Fold in carrots and chopped nuts until well blended.
- Butter generously and coat with flour an 8/9-inch pan.
- Distribute butter in the baking pan and place in preheated oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes.
Trick: How to check if your cake is done ->
When a Cake Tester Comes Out Clean: Any thin skewer can be used as a cake tester, but many bakers just use a simple toothpick. If you insert it into thecenter of the cake, it should come out clean, with no streaks of batter.
How To Bake Carrot Cake – Preparing The Icing-Filling
Remember that cream cheese and butter need to have room temperature!
- In a mixing bowl, mix sugar powder with the butter until you can turn the bowl upside down and it doesn’t flow. It’s very important to respect these steps. Then fold the cream cheese, vanilla extract and grated lemon on the sugar-butter mixture and blend but not too much. Blend for 12-15 seconds. Blend as less as you can, just to have everything mixed.
Giving Life To The Carrot Cake
Cut the cake in 2 or 3 layers, depending on cake’s height. Let it cold and then assemble the Carrot Cake as wanted 🙂
This is my favorite carrot cake recipe. It’s the classic and simple one, but also the most tasty one. Now, a lot of my friends keep asking me when I’m doing it again, because they tried it out, at some restaurants, and they say mine is the best. Of course, I’m happy for the praise, but the first and the last pieces are always mine.
If you think this amazing Carrot Cake has too many calories, let me know and I will challenge you with the Fully Raw Carrot Cake Recipe.
