Hands up if you love carrot cake! There is something about carrot cake that makes it the perfect Easter dessert. It must be all those bunnies and carrots! I made this carrot cake with cream cheese frosting with my kids...who were reluctant to try a cake made from carrots. But, this easy cake recipe is a superstar Easter treat!
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With all the chocolate eggs and treats you'll be eating on Easter, carrot cake is a great dessert choice as it isn't an overly sweet dessert. Our creamy, cream cheese frosting is smooth and rich, but not too sugary. The recipe calls for a whole pile of shredded carrots, so it's a great recipe to put the kids to work grating the carrots on a box grater.
We even added some super cute fondant decorations to our cake. I mean, how adorable is our Easter Bunny cake topper!?
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
3 cups grated carrots (about 1 lb, 6-8 medium carrots)
½ cup finely chopped pineapple (canned or fresh)
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups granulated sugar
1 ¼ cup vegetable oil (we use safflower oil)
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 ½ cream cheese
1 cup room temperature butter
1 ½ cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Begin by preheating the oven to 350°F. Butter two 8" round cake pans and line them with parchment paper and butter over the parchment again. We want these cakes to pop right out.
Now it's time to do some grating. Once you've grated the carrots, with a box grater, combine grated carrots and pineapple in a small bowl and set aside.
Now it's time to pull together the dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set the dry ingredients aside.
In an electric stand mixer, cream together granulated sugar, oil, and eggs until everything is combined and is a light yellow. Then beat in the vanilla.
Next, pour half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Then, add half of the carrots and pineapples to the batter, and mix until combined. Then, add the second half of the dry ingredients, followed by the rest of the carrots and pineapples. Mix until everything is combined.
Time to pour the batter into the pans. Divide the cake batter equally between your two prepared pans. Bake in 350°F oven for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pans and then pop them out of the pans and place them on a rack to cool completely before icing.
Now we make the cream cheese frosting. In a medium-sized bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, icing sugar, and vanilla. Beat until the frosting is smooth.
Let's assemble the cake. First, you need to take the top "dome" off one of the cakes. Run a serrated knife along the top of the cake and slice off the dome, this will make the cakes easier to stack. Place a dot of icing in the middle of the cake plate and place the cake with the sliced-off top on the cake plate...the bottom layer of the cake is the one you cut. The dot of icing will hold the cake in place.
The best tool for frosting a cake is an offset spatula. Use an offset spatula to spread frosting on the top of the lower layer of the cake. Place the second cake on top of the first. Use the spatula to spread frosting over the entire cake. It is best to spread on a thin first layer of frosting. This first thin coat of frosting will seal in all the crumbs. You can place the cake in the fridge, for about half an hour, to firm up the frosting before spreading the final layer of frosting on the cake.
My daughters used white fondant to make a bunny rabbit, carrots, and small polka dots. They then used watered-down food coloring and paintbrushes to paint the details on the fondant decorations. Set the decorations aside to dry before placing them on the cake.
Pop the cake in the fridge until a few hours before you're ready to serve.
This carrot cake is moist and delicious. It is sure to become a family favourite. It may even become a tradition for your family to make this cake too.
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 3 cups grated carrots about 1 lb, 6-8 medium carrots
- ½ cup finely chopped pineapple
- 2 ½ cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ cup vegetable oil we use safflower oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- 12 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup room temperature butter
- 1 ½ cup icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 8" round cake pans. Line with parchment paper and butter again.
- Combine grated carrots and pineapple in a small bowl and set aside.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer cream together granulated sugar, oil and eggs until light yellow. Beat in vanilla.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Add half of the carrots and pineapples. Add the second half of the dry ingredients, followed by the carrots and pineapples. Mix until combined.
- Divide cake batter equally between the two prepared pans. Bake in 350°F oven for 50-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from pans and place on rack to cool completely before icing.
- For the frosting. Combine cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl. Beat until smooth.
- Now it's time to assemble the cake. Use a serrated knife to remove the rounded top off one of the cakes. Place a dot of icing in the middle of the cake plate and place the cake with the sliced off top on the cake plate. The dot of icing will hold the cake in place.
- Use an offset spatula to spread frosting on the top of the lower layer of cake. Place the second cake on top of the first. Use the spatula to spread frosting over the entire cake. It is best to spread on a thin first layer of frosting. You can place the cake in the fridge to firm up the frosting before spreading the final layer of frosting on the cake.
- My daughters used white fondant to make a bunny rabbit, carrots and small dots. They then used food colouring and paint brushes to paint details on the fondant decorations. Set aside to dry before placing on the cake
Notes
Nutrition
Check out all of these fun Easter fruit and veggie platters
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