Simple Carrot Cake Recipe
Simple Carrot Cake - moist and easy carrot cake made with simple ingredients and topped with tangy cream cheese frosting. This will truly become your favorite carrot cake recipe.
Ingredients
Carrot Cake-
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup neutral oil ( I used vegetable oil)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups grated peeled carrot (heaped)
- ⅓ cup chopped nuts ( I used cashew and almonds)
Cream Cheese Frosting -
- 4 oz softened blocked cream cheese
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- ¼ cup powdered sugar see note
Instructions
Carrot Cake -
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl add the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix until well combined
- Add vegetable oil and mix it with the flour mixture.
- In a bowl add two eggs and whisk it. Add the whisked egg and vanilla extract to the flour mixture, and mix it well.
- Add freshly grated carrot and chopped nuts to the batter. Gently fold the carrot and nuts in to the batter.
- Grease and line a 8 inch round pan with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan and gently tap to remove any air bubbles.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Remove and let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment a paper and let the cake rest for another 30 minutes before frosting.
Cream Cheese frosting -
- Remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for 2 hours.
- Using a whisk beat the cream cheese till soft and creamy.
- Add vanilla extract, milk and lime juice and mix again. Now add the powdered sugar and whisk till smooth and creamy. If the mixture is too thick you can add little more milk.
- Let the cream cheese frosting set in the fridge till ready to frost. The frosting will be little thick after its chilled. Mix it again for 30 seconds and that will make it creamy.
Notes
Carrots - Do not use store-bought pre shredded carrot, they can be dry. Cake tastes best with freshly grated carrot.
Carrot Cupcakes - you can also bake these as cupcakes, bakes them for 18 - 20 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
Nuts - you can use any nuts of your choice.
Cream Cheese - use block cream cheese, not the spreadable one.
CreamCheese Frosting - this frosting is lightly sweetened. Add more powdered sugar if you like it to be on the sweeter side.