Carrot Cake has been kind of vilified for decades because people long ago decided a perfectly good cake needed additions like pecans and pineapple, while coconut basically has no place in a recipe except in a Pina Colada recipe. Remember that people also came up with a hot dog Jello dish (google it if you don’t believe me!), so we don’t have to always follow what others do!
So, if you cringe away from Carrot Cake because of added pecans/walnuts/nuts, coconut, and/or pineapple, I’m here to rescue you. Even if you happen to like those additions, you’ll still love this cake. It’s an easy recipe, and both the cake and the frosting are just SO good. If you’re like me, you’ll hold back a cup of frosting just to be able to steal a spoonful now and again, long after the cake is devoured, or to use it on my to-die-for Cinnamon Rolls. Bonus, is that the kids love this cake, enough that they’ve requested it for their birthday cake.
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 4 eggs large
- ½ cup applesauce see notes
- ¾ cup vegetable oil see notes
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 cups grated carrots
For the Frosting - see notes
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 cream cheese packages 8oz each, softened
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar aka powdered or icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
- In a large bowl, beat together eggs, applesauce, oil, sugars, and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
- In a smaller bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Pour flour mixture into egg mixture. Stir in carrots. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center¼ of the cake has no uncooked batter on it. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting:
- In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake.
Notes
Nutrition
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2 comments
This carrot cake recipe looks delicious. Looks simple to execute, will print out and try it out!
Such a shame I never had this before because this looks delicious! It doesn’t look that hard to prepare so I might try it soon.