Moist Carrot Cake

Vegetarian
Dec 19, 2017
2 min read

Carrot cake is healthy right? I mean its full of vegetables. I wish this was true! But cake is still cake so remember your portion sizes when enjoying this deliciously moist sweet treat. I was going to avoid baking too many sweets this season as I am already surrounded by goodies other make at the office and at the many holiday parties, but I couldn't resist trying out this recipe when I had company coming over and I already had most of the ingredients in my kitchen.

In the past, I have always baked my carrot cakes with chopped walnuts; however, I didn't have any so I decided to substitute with chopped pecans and it turned out amazing. It's amazing being able to bake such delicious treats with ingredients you already have. Check out my post next week on pantry essentials that I always keep on hand!

Carrot Cake

Yield 12 slices

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups flour

2 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 1/2 t ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 t vanilla extract

4 eggs

3 cups carrots, shredded

1 cup chopped pecans (plus more for topping if desired)

Icing:

8 oz cream cheese

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour two 9" cake pans.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, both sugars, vanilla, and then eggs one at a time until well combined.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 3 portions, mix well until well combined.
Stir in the shredded carrots and 1 cup of pecans.
Pour the batter equally into the two prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean)
While the cake bakes, prepare the frosting in a mixer with a whisk attachment or with a hand blender by whipping the cream cheese and then incorporate the powdered sugar about 1/4 cup at a time until smooth. Then mix in the whipping cream.
Once the cakes are finished baking, remove from oven and allow to cool.
To ice, use about 1/2 of the frosting to coat the top of the first layer. Add the second layer and then use a spatula or piping bag to top the second layer. Save some frosting if you would like to pipe a carrot on top.
To decorate: add frosting carrots (I used the piping bag for the orange carrot and a butter knife to add the green leaves), sprinkle with chopped nuts, or add fresh shredded carrots.