Home Sweet Carrot Cake

This decadent, towering carrot cake is my go to sweet treat for any celebration or, if you’ve just made a gigantic life change and simply need to treat yourself.  

It’s one of the simplest cakes to create with just three quick steps, so put on your Ocean to Stable apron and cha-cha your way into the kitchen. The best part, it’s made with ingredients most kitchens have handy and nothing over the top or intimidating. 

With generous lashings of cream cheese frosting, and its fluffy and light texture, it’s a crowd pleaser that will have all your guests (or just you) devouring every last crumb. 

Ingredients 

For the cake:

• 300g of brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 300ml vegetable or sunflower oil
• 300g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon plus extra to decorate
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• 300g carrots shredded
• 100g shelled walnuts or pecans chopped, plus 75g extra, chopped and whole, to decorate

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 600g powdered sugar sifted
• 100g butter softened
• 250g cream cheese cold

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C and line the bottoms of two (20cm) cake tins with baking paper and grease the sides.

Step 1: In a large bowl, beat sugar, eggs and oil until all ingredients are well incorporated (don’t worry if the mixture looks slightly split).

Step 2: Slowly add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract. Fold until well mixed.

Step 3: Fold in the grated carrots and walnuts until evenly dispersed.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tins and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake for 50 - 55 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool for about 10 minutes in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the cream cheese icing:

While the cakes are cooling, beat icing sugar and butter together in a deep bowl on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together. It will have a sandy texture.

Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the icing is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.

When the cakes are cooled completely, put one on a cake stand or plate and spread a quarter of the frosting over it. Place the second cake on top and spread another quarter of the frosting over it. Spread the remaining frosting over the sides. Top with the extra walnuts and a light sprinkling of cinnamon.

Enjoy! O2S x