This flavor packed Carrot Cake will remind you of the scrumptious Carrot Cake your Grandmother use to make!!

 It is moist, loaded with carrots pieces, plump raisins, pineapple bits and pecans.  Then frosted with a creamy Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting.

A Few Fun Facts about Carrot Cake:

• Carrot cake is a offspring from Carrot Pudding made in the Medieval European times.
• In the 15^th Century, carrots were added to desserts as a substitute for sugar because of their sweet natural and being plentiful.
• Carrots are not all orange in color. There are variations of carrots that are black, purple, red, and yellow
• Carrots are 88% water
• One glass of milk contains the same amount of calcium as in 9 carrots.
• Of all known vegetables except for beet, carrots are known to have highest naturally occurring sugar content. So, beet takes number 1 position while carrots take the second position in terms of sweet vegetables.
• Carrot seeds are so small that 2,000 seeds can accommodate in a simple teaspoon.
• A single carrot can give you enough energy to walk 1 mile.
• Carrots are great for your health. They increase blood flow to the heart and reduce bad cholesterol levels.

Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Carrot Cake:

• 6 cups finely chopped carrots
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 room temperature eggs
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup crushed pineapple drained well
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 12 ounces soften cream cheese
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temp
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pound powdered sugar

Instructions

Making the Carrot Cake:

• Using a food processor, chop up carrots until they are in tiny pieces.

  Measure out 6 cups of chopped carrots and place them into a mixing bowl
• The raisins need to go from a dried state to being plumped and juicy. Add the raisins to the carrots and in the brown sugar.

  Stir until completely blended. Juice from the carrots will be released and the raisin will pump up from the juice.

  Set the bowl aside for about 30 minutes to allow the carrots to soften and the raisins to pump up.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

  Line two cake pans ( either 9 or 10 inch) with parchment paper for a two layer cake.

  OR

  Line 3 (six inch round )cake pans with parchment paper.
• In your stand mixer, beat the eggs until light and fluffy…about 3-5 minutes.Add in the sugar a little bit at a time and continue to beat returning the butter to a fluffy state.
• Add in veg. oil and vanilla extract. Mix well
• strain the crushed pineapple and with a fork squeeze out as much juice as possible . Add the pineapple to the butter batter.
• In a large measuring cup ( 4 cup) combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg. Mix the ingredients well.
• With stand mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix just until combined.
• Strain carrots and raisin removing the liquid. Squeeze down the carrots in the strainer to as much liquid as possible.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the stand mixer and mix in carrots into the batter by hand folding in the carrots to the batter.
• Add in pecans by folding them in.
• Fill bake pans with batter

  Bake for 30 minutes and test for doneness with a toothpick. If still wet with toothpick test, bake for another 5 minutes. Continue to test the cake every 5 minutes until done.

  You do not want to over bake and dry out the cake. Frequent testing is much better than potentially baking to long.
• Cool the cakes for about 10-15 minutes before removing them from the pans and placing them on a cooling rack

  Place the cooling rack with cakes into the refrigerator to completely cool the bake and have it cold to the touch before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• Cream butter in stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy…about 3-5 minutes
• Add cream cheese and continue to cream
• add in vanilla and cinnamon
• slowly add the powdered sugar. Mix until well blended

Course: Dessert

Keyword: Carrot Cake from Scratch, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, How to make the best Carrot Cake, Just like Grandma’s Carrot Cake

Author: Beverly

This Carrot Cake is guaranteed to bring back warm memories of family celebrations. It will be the favorite dessert of your guest.

Cheers…..Happy Baking !!