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Best Carrot Cake

This is truly the BEST carrot cake recipe. It´s incredibly moist and soft, with fragrant and warm spices, layered with smooth, tangy, and refreshing cream cheese frosting that is not too sweet. Just perfection!
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Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Chilling time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Servings 10 slices

Ingredients
  

Carrot cake

  • 4 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup (135 g) brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (95 g) granulated sugar
  • 2 cup (340 g) carrots, peeled and grated (about 4 medium sized carrots)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 tsp freshly grounded cardemum
  • 2 cups (250 g) flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup (100 ml) neutral oil

Cream cheese frosting

  • 16 ounces (460 g) philadelphia cream cheese, room temperatured
  • 1 cup (230 g) butter, room temperatured
  • 1 cup (145 g) powdered sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
  • 2 tsp lime zest (about 1 lime)

Instructions
 

Carrot cake

  • Preheat the oven to 320 ℉ / 160 ℃. Grease and line three 6 inch (15 cm) baking pans with parchment paper.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and freshly grounded cardemum seeds until combined. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs with the sugars until smooth and combined. (No need for electric mixer)
  • Once combined, whisk in the carrots, the oil and the vanilla.
  • Sift in the dry ingredients and gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
  • Evenly distribute the batter into the lined baking pans. Use a kitchen scale for best results, but eye-balling it is fine.
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer from the center of the cake comes out clean (some crumbs are fine).
  • Allow the cakes to cool down completely covered with a kitchen towel before proceeding to frosting.

Cream cheese frosting with lime

  • In a large mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, add the softened butter and cream cheese. Mix on medium speed until smooth and combined.
  • Scrape down the sides and add the powdered sugar, lime zest, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Mix on low speed until completely smooth.

Assemble Carrot cake

  • Take out the carrot cakes from the baking pans and remove the parchment paper.
  • Place the first layer on a cake stand and spread a layer of cream cheese frosting. Repeat the process for the second cake layer.
  • Crumb coat the entire cake by spreading a thin layer of frosting to the top and sides of the cake. Chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
  • Once chilled, spread the remaining cream cheese frosting to the sides and top of the cake, covering the cake completely. Smooth out the sides with an offset spatula or a large knife. If you plan on frosting carrots as decoration, make sure to set aside about 1/4 cup of the cream cheese frosting.
  • Decorate with your favorite choice of toppings, such as chopped walnuts, shredded carrots or candied pecans. You could also pipe cute little carrots by dividing any saved cream cheese frosting into two small bowls and mixing in 1 drop of green food color gel and 1 drop of orange food color gel in the other. Pour the frosting into two piping bags with a small round tip and pipe carrots all around the cake.
  • Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour to allow the frosting to set completely.
  • Finally, slice and enjoy your perfect carrot cake!

Notes

Taste the cream cheese frosting and see if you like the sweetness. If you find it too sweet, squeeze in a tablespoon of lime at the time and taste again. Just note that too much lime juice will make the frosting too liquid.
If the cream cheese frosting is too runny, place in the fridge to cool for 20-30 minutes. The butter will harden the frosting to a thicker consistency.