This moist and dense Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is one of the best carrot cakes you will ever taste, the cream cheese icing is simply amazing!
1tbsp.heavy creamyou can also use milk or half & half cream
½teaspoonpure vanilla extract
⅛teaspoonsea salt
4cupsicing sugar**
Instructions
For the cake:
Position a rack in the centre of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F.
Grease and flour two 8 inch round pans or one 9×13 inch cake pan.
In a large bowl, combine both flours, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt.
In another bowl, beat brown sugar, granulated sugar, maple syrup, eggs and oil, until there are no more lumps.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir with a large spoon until evenly incorporated.
Add the grated carrots, crushed pineapple, shredded coconut and pecans.
Divide the batter evenly into the two round pans or the one rectangular pan depending on what you prefer. Spread the top so it’s smooth.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 28 to 30 minutes, for the 8 inch round pans and about 35 to 40 minutes for the larger 9×13 inch pan.
Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 minutes and then run a knife around them before inverting the cakes onto a wire rack to cool.
For the Frosting:
In the bowl of your mixer, on medium-high speed, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Add the lemon juice, heavy cream, and vanilla extract, beat for 1 more minute then add the salt and one cup of icing sugar at a time until you have the desired consistency, I used 4 cups of icing sugar.
Notes
The cake can be baked up to two days ahead of time and frosted on the day of serving.
Toasting the pecans will enhance their flavor and texture. To toast raw pecans, simply preheat oven to 350°F. Spread pecans evenly on baking sheet. Toast for 5 minutes, stir and toast for 3 to 5 minutes more until pecans are fragrant and their color deepens. Remove from the oven and let cool before chopping.
When making layered cakes I always like to weigh my pans so that I know I have the same amount of batter in each, this way you get even layers.
When using the icing for a layered cake it is better to add more icing sugar to have a stiffer icing which holds better on the sides of the cake. However, if you are serving this cake in a 9×13 inch pan, 3 cups of icing sugar is sufficient for the frosting.