carrot cake recipe – use real butter (2024)

Recipe: carrot cake

The other morning as I hauled myself to the garage, I spied this lovely dawn from our driveway:

…because you have to get up early if you want to catch the powder on the big mountains. Beaver Creek is the fanciest up-scale ski resort I have ever had the privilege of sullying with my middle class presence.

I’m not so much a ski bunny, more like a

tele whor*. The only reason we could ever consider skiing at such a posh resort (they have their own Ritz-Carlton on the slopes!?) is because we have Colorado Passes. Instead of $92 for a lift ticket, we paid $380 several months ago for unlimited access to Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, and 10 days between Vail and Beaver Creek. Waugh, bon marché! Living in Colorado rocks. While I didn’t score any of those fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies served by the Beaver Creek chefs (we didn’t hang out at the village much), my eyeballs enjoyed plenty of eye candy. The terrain is by far the loveliest I’ve ever seen for a ski hill.

It was a bluebird day and it got downright hot (in the 30s) in my opinion. The few inches of powder were tracked up quickly, but it was great fun. Jeremy had himself the most indulgent $12 burger for lunch (he says it was good, but $12?!?!) and by mid-afternoon my legs were begging for the 2 hour drive home.

I paid the price for skiing above my station. I could barely walk around the house yesterday because I was so wiped out. But today I felt like my old self. Got my 2 hours of cardio and then decided it was time to make a cake!

rabbit food
I love carrots, but I hate baby carrots. When baby carrots first hit the market we thought, “What a great thing to bring on hikes or backpacking.” Well, I think they taste like ass. I mean, they’re whittled down from reject carrots and they have *no flavor*. I quickly reverted back to loose or bunch organic carrots which are sweet and delicious and good for you.

Whenever I trim, peel, slice, or chop fruits and vegetables, Kaweah likes to sit by the compost bucket. She could easily plunge her schnoz into the bucket while we aren’t home, but she never does. She’s a good girl. However, if I chuck bits or peels into the bucket while she’s sitting there, she gets closer and closer until finally her little brain can’t help but instruct her chops to reach out and try to catch something as it flies past. Carrots rank high on her list of all-time favorites. Rather than shred my fingers into the carrots, I just give the pooch the butt ends and she loves it.

I hadn’t made a carrot cake in about a year. It’s really simple to make and you get this dense, moist, full-of-goodies textured cake. It can be baked in a pan and frosted in said pan or layered up in a less modest presentation. I chose a small 6-inch, 4-layer version.

I found the recipe from a bed and breakfast website and added walnuts. The cake is chocked full of carrots, pineapple, walnuts, and wonderful spices. Can’t say I have tested any other recipe after I tried this one a few years ago. It’s a keeper, as is the cream cheese frosting.

The reason it’s important to cool the cakes completely is because slicing a hot cake is a recipe for a lot of swearing. They tend to rip up and crumb when they are still steaming, and this cake does plenty of that when it is cooled. I lop off the dome tops (save for snacking) and then slice four layers of equal thickness. Set a base piece on the bottom, then layer with icing and top off with another base piece, but inverted.

Since the cake is crumb-y, I find it essential to spread a crumb coat on the sides before applying the real frosting layer. For presentation purposes, it’s unsightly to have a dark colored cake crumb suspended in a lovely sea of creamy white frosting. That’s just me though. The final cake is a heavy one, so don’t be fooled by the petite size.

Update [January 16, 2024]: Last year, on a whim, I tested a small batch of chocolate cream cheese frosting with carrot cake scraps and determined that this needed to be a thing. It is *such* a good thing. Usually I will use both vanilla and chocolate cream cheese frostings for some visual and flavor contrast. It works quite well.

Carrot Cake
[print recipe]
adapted from Ridge View Bed and Breakfast, Virginia by Eleanor Damico

carrot cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp allspice
2/3 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 cup finely shredded raw carrot
1/2 cup crushed pineapple (with syrup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 walnuts, chopped

cream cheese frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
2 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsps vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 lb. confectioner’s sugar

chocolate cream cheese frosting (optional – make this instead of or in addition to the cream cheese frosting)
modified from Chocolate Covered Katie
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
2 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 oz. dark chocolate (70% cocoa or more), melted and cooled (but not solid)
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Dutch-processed)
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional, but I love it)
pinch salt
1 1/2 – 3 cups confectioner’s sugar (I used 200 grams or just under 1 cup)

Cake: Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add remaining cake ingredients and mix until moistened. Pour batter into greased and lightly floured baking pan. For a 9x9x2 inch baking pan, bake at 350°F for about 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean or with moist crumbs. I baked in 2 6-inch round pans at 375°F for 45 minutes (at elevation). Remove cakes from oven and when slightly cooled, invert onto cooling rack out of pan and let cool completely.

Cream cheese frosting: Cream the butter and cream cheese together until completely blended. Add vanilla and salt. Blend. Gradually beat in confectioner’s sugar to desired consistency. Note: I usually make this into a layer cake, so I typically make 1.5 times the amount of frosting. If there is any leftover, the frosting works beautifully on cinnamon buns.

Chocolate cream cheese frosting: Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Stir in the melted chocolate until blended. Mix in the cocoa powder, vanilla, almond extract (if using), and salt. Slowly beat in the confectioner’s sugar until you reach the desired sweetness or consistency. Note: if you like your frosting really sweet and it becomes too stiff, loosen it by beating in a little milk (or plant-based milk).

February 28th, 2008: 7:58 pm
filed under baking, cake, dessert, recipes, sweet, vegetables