Baking · Dessert · Oven

Carrot Cake

Name: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 12 slices
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 270 g Plain flour; 2 tsp Baking powder; 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda; 2 tsp Ground cinnamon; 1 tsp Ground ginger; ½ tsp Salt; 4 Eggs; 125 g Caster sugar; 125 g Light brown sugar; 2.5 dl Neutral oil, rapeseed or sunflower; 350 g Carrots, peeled, finely grated; 100 g Walnuts, roughly chopped; 300 g Cream cheese, full fat, cold; 75 g Butter, soft; 150 g Icing sugar, sifted; 1 tsp Vanilla extract; ½ Lemon zest, from 1 lemon, finely grated

A soft, spiced cake full of grated carrot and walnuts, with a tangy cream cheese frosting. It keeps well and tastes even better the next day.

12Slices

50 minIn the oven

175 °COven

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and orange slices on a wooden table, with vanilla ice cream, lanterns and a view of the city — Grated carrot, walnuts and warm spices under a tangy frosting.

Method

Six steps · cool completely before frosting

Prepare
Heat the oven to 175 °C. Grease a square tin, 22 cm, or a round springform tin, 24 cm, and line the base with baking paper.
Mix the dry ingredients
Stir together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a bowl.
Whisk the eggs
Whisk the eggs with both sugars for 3–4 minutes, until pale and thick. Whisk in the oil in a thin stream.
Make the batter
Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined, then fold in the carrots and walnuts. Do not overmix.
Bake
Pour into the tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 45–55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cover with foil if the top browns too fast. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then let the cake cool completely on a rack.
Frost
Beat the butter with the icing sugar until smooth. Beat in the cold cream cheese, vanilla and lemon zest for no more than 30 seconds, as the frosting thins if overworked. Spread over the cake and chill for 30 minutes before slicing.

Our tips

Grate the carrots finely and do not squeeze them. Their juice keeps the cake moist.

The frosted cake keeps for about 4 days in the fridge. Take it out 30 minutes before serving.

The cake freezes well without the frosting, for up to 3 months.

A lighter version

Fewer calories, same dish

Use 1 dl of oil and 1.5 dl of unsweetened apple sauce instead of 2.5 dl of oil.

Use 150 g of sugar in the cake instead of 250 g.

Use 50 g of walnuts instead of 100 g.

Make the frosting with 200 g of light cream cheese and 75 g of icing sugar, and skip the butter. Spread it thinly.

With all the swaps, about 320 kcal per slice instead of about 590 kcal (estimate). The cake gets a little denser and the frosting softer.

Nutrition

Energy: about 590 kcal
Protein: about 8 g
Fat: about 38 g
Carbohydrates: about 53 g

Estimated from the ingredients, per slice (12 slices).

More from our kitchen

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Every recipe cooked and tested at home — by Magnus & Lek

Carrot Cake

Method

Prepare

Mix the dry ingredients

Whisk the eggs

Make the batter

Bake

Frost

Our tips

A lighter version

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