The Ultimate Carrot Cake

If there’s a heaven, its inhabitants would spend their days watching reruns of Six Feet Under and noshing on this fabulous cake. It’s that good. Moist and delicate with a hint of citrus, this carrot cake is one for the books. 

Ingredients

 5 or 6 medium-sized carrots

4 eggs
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 small container of orange, lemon or vanilla yogurt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
The zest of one orange
2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. each of baking soda and cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg

8 oz. plain cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
The zest of one lemon
2 ½ cups of confectioners’ sugar

Step 1     

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Grate the carrots and place them in a large mixing bowl. We like a fine grate here at The Kitchen Geeks, but if you like them coarser, with big hunks of carrot, that’s a matter of choice. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.

Step 2

Pour the eggs in the large bowl with the grated carrots and add the sugars, oil, vanilla and zest. Mix well.

Step 3

Mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, careful not to overmix.

Step 4

Pour the dry mixture slowly into the wet mixture and mix until just combined.

Step 5

Get your baking vessels ready. We like to use 3 8-inch square pans for a triple layer cake – mostly because that maximizes the cream cheese frosting surface. You can use two round pans, one large round pan or even a 9-by-13 rectangular pan.

Cover the bottom of the baking pans with parchment paper, then cover the sides and parchment with a thin layer of butter. If you don’t have parchment, just use butter. Use some butter from the ¼ cup deligated for the icing; your frosting won’t need quite that much.

Step 6

Bake in a preheated oven until the center pops to the touch. If you touch the top and it sinks without popping up, it’s not done. For the three small pans, that’s about 20 minutes. For one large pan, it’s more like 45. Keep a close eye and don’t overbake or you’ll lose some of that heavenly moistness. 

Step 7

Mix the cream cheese and ¼ cup butter (less the amount you used to grease the pans) together using a standing mixer. Once smooth, add the vanilla. Reduce the speed of your mixer to low, and slowly add the sugar in batches. Mix for about five minutes, or until all the lumps are gone. Stir in the lemon zest and it’s ready to go!

Now just ice the cake and you’re ready to go!