Carrot Cake

My dad was craving some carrot cake so I decided to make it for Father’s Day weekend! He had pretty good timing, considering it’s one of my grandpa’s favorite desserts as well. Good choice, dad. 🙂

This carrot cake recipe is my absolute favorite. A few years ago we went to a friend’s birthday party and they had this incredible cake. My mom asked for the recipe and voila! It’s been a family favorite ever since. Check out the original recipe from Earthbound Organics here. 

Everyone has their own baking quirks. I know that I do. I always have to do something slightly different from the recipe. Here, I added a little extra carrots and used half raw sugar, half honey. I also lessened the baking time. It turns out extremely moist this way. While it may be a little more difficult to frost, it is SO worth the extra effort.

My dad really enjoyed this cake! So did my grandpa (who rarely eats sweets) so that made me pretty glad. Make your friends, family, and taste buds very happy with this awesome recipe. Check it out!

Carrot Cake
Makes 1 double layered 9-inch cake
Original recipe from Earthbound Organics

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup raw or granulated sugar
1 TB ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups peanut oil
1 cup honey
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 pound bag of baby carrots
1 3/4 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 TB pure vanilla extract
1/2 TB vanilla bean paste

Directions

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Heavily grease and flour 2 round 9-inch cake pans. Set aside.

Place your 1 lb bag of baby carrots in the food processor and pulse until shredded and no big pieces remain. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl.
In a separate small bowl, whisk the eggs with the oil, honey, and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add the carrots and 1 cup of the walnuts, stirring just to blend.

Divide the batter between the 2 prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the edges have pulled away from the sides of the pan, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before flipping cakes out.

To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter in a medium-size bowl until very smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar, then the vanilla extract and paste. 

Place one of the cake layers on a flat plate. Spread with some of the frosting. Top with the second layer and frost the sides and top of the cake very thinly, leaving some frosting. You want to dirty ice your cake because it is so moist it while have cake crumbs everywhere. After dirty icing, place cake in fridge for at least 2 hours. After the frosting has hardened, finish frosting your cake with the rest of your frosting. Sprinkle the side of the cake with the remaining nuts. You can also pipe some shells on the corners and sprinkle nuts on top. 

Enjoy!