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Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream

The cake is moist and full of cinnamon flavor. The cream cheese buttercream creates the perfect balance of savory and sweet. The cake contains a slight trace of crushed walnuts and all the right spices to bring a smile.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 35 mins
Total Time 1 hr 5 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 3/4 cups Cake Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Freshly grated nutmeg
  • 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon Ground cloves
  • 1 1/3 cup Grapeseed Oil
  • 1 cup Dark brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup Granulated sugar
  • 3 Large eggs
  • 2 cups Grated finely carrots
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 handful Finely chopped walnuts

For the Cream Cheese Buttercream:

  • 8 ounces Cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
  • 4 cups Powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 pinch of kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Instructions
 

To make the Carrot Cake Layers:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat three 6"-diameter cake pans with nonstick spray. Line the bottom of the pans with round-cutout parchment paper.
  • Whisk cake flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground gloves, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium size bowl.
  • Grate the carrots and remove access liquid by squeezing the carrots out.
  • Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the brown sugar, vanilla extract, granulated sugar, and eggs until a pale and thick consistency is noticed. Roughly 3 minutes.
  • Reduce the electric mixer to a low-medium speed and slowly add in the grapeseed oil.
  • Slowly start to add the dry ingredients into the electric mixer. Waiting until the flour is completely incorporated before adding another addition of dry ingredients.
  • Remove cake batter from mixer and fold in the grated carrots and choppe walnuts.
  • Scrape the batter into prepared cake pans evenly. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Rotate the pans halfway through baking using a toothpick to check for a full bake. When the toothpick is removed from the center of the pan clean remove the cake from the oven.
  • Transfer pans to a cooling rack and let the cakes cool for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto the cooling rack and remove the parchment paper. Allows the cake to completely cool before adding frosting and assembling.

To make the cream cheese buttercream:

  • Add the butter and cream cheese to the electric mixer with the paddle attachment.
  • Whip for a few minutes on medium-high speed until silk smooth.
  • Scrape the sides of the bowl. In small batches add the powdered sugar. Mix on low speed.
  • Once all combined, turn the mixer to medium-high speed and whip the buttercream until fluffy. (about 3-4 minutes)
Keyword Carrot Cake