The Best Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This rich, old-fashioned carrot cake recipe is near and dear to our hearts. I have been making this carrot cake recipe since I was very young around 8 years old. It is a fool-proof carrot cake recipe that makes a super moist, full-of-flavor and has just the right amount of carrots and nuts. Not only is the cake amazing, but it is filled and frosted with our favorite cream cheese frosting.
It’s funny how certain smells and tastes bring back a certain memory in your mind. After have a small tast of the batter and smelling that familiar cinnamon smell, it bring me back to the very first time I started baking on my own, probably around the third grade. Since then, my parents made me bake this same cake over and over again for every special occasion and now I want to share this with our family so we can pass down our family recipes.
For the frosting, be sure to start with a crumb coating.
What is a crumb coat?
A crumb coat is a very thin layer of icing used to “glue” crumbs down, seal in the cake’s moisture (super useful when you need to store the cake before decorating it) and provide an even base for additional frosting. Use an offset spatula to spread a thin layer of frosting over your cake. It should be thin enough that you can see the cake (and crumbs) through it. Once the crumb coating is done, place the cake in the fridge to allow the frostin to set. Then, the second thicker layer of forsting can be added.
FOR THE CARROT CAKE: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the insides of two 7-inch springform pans with butter and then dust with flour. This will prevent the cake from sticking to the pan. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients including the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a large bowl, at medium speed of an electric or hand mixer combine the eggs, and sugar, and oil and cinnamon until fully incorporated. Next, add the dry ingredient to the wet mixture. At medium speed, mix all the ingredients together until completely combined. With a spatula, manually fold in the shredded carrots and walnuts into the batter. Ensure the carrots and walnuts are distributed throughout the batter. Divide the batter into to equal portions and add each portion into a springform pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until completely baked. This can be determined by placing a toothpick in the center of the cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is ready to be taken out of the oven. Allow the cakes to cool completely. Once cooled, remove the cakes from the pans and evenly trim the tops of the cakes to make an even flat surface on the top. Both cakes should trimmed so that they are both the same height. FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: While the cakes are cooling, in the bowl of the electric mixer, whip the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. On a cake pedestal, place the bottom layer of cake. with a spatula, layer about an inch of frosting on top of the cake, smooth out the layer of icing, and then place the second layer of cake on top. Coat the rest of the cake with a thin layer of frosting. This is the crumb coating. Once completed, place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. With an offset spatula, coat with another thicker layer of frosting. Smooth tops and sides and decorate with additional frosting and nuts, as desired.
Ingredients
Instructions
