Desserts Recipes

Moist Carrot Cake Recipe

Since the commercial part of Easter has to do with Easter Bunnies and their favorite food, carrots, I thought I would share my favorite Carrot Cake recipe! How many of you like to serve carrot cake on Easter? When I was a child, I balked at the idea of putting shredded carrots in a cake! The older I get, the more I LOVE carrot cake. I happen really really enjoy cream cheese frosting so that is probably what first got me eating carrot cake. I think that a cream cheese frosting suits carrot cake particularly well. The key to a really tasty cream cheese frosting is to making your own! Do not buy it in a can! Canned frosting will do when you are in an absolute pinch, but if you want people to really enjoy it, make it yourself! This really applies to all frostings.

Carrot Cake

I love how moist Carrot Cake is, and this recipe adapted from Candy Jamamas, is particularly moist because it has crushed pineapple and applesauce in it too! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. I apologize for the semi-blurry photo. I will take better ones next time I make this recipe.

Moist Carrot Cake Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
Cake:
  • 4 eggs
  • ¾ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup applesauce
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2½ tsp vanilla
  • 2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2½ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • 3 cup grated carrots (do not use the tiny grater for this)
  • ¾ cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
  • 8 oz can crushed pineapple (drain most of the juice out, but don’t squeeze it dry)
Frosting:
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 12 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 lb powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans or 1 9×13 pan. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, sugars and vanilla.
  3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  4. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix well. Stir in carrots, pineapple, and pecans.
  5. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes for round pans. Longer if using a 9×13. Toothpick inserted in center of cake should come out clean. The cake will be very dark on top, but not to worry – it’s not burning!
  6. Allow cake to cool in pans for about ten minutes, then run a knife around edge and carefully turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
  7. When cool, frost with cream cheese icing.
To prepare icing:
  1. Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar about a cup at a time until well-blended.

 

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Emily Buys

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