The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

This recipe for carrot cake is my mother's college roommate Betty's - seriously - and for at least two decades my father has made it for my mother's birthday every single year, so it's safe to say that I've sufficiently tested this recipe. This carrot cake is damn good, if (as I've been reminded) you follow my father's instructions.

For the cake:

1) Mix 2 cups sugar and 1 cup oil.

2) Beat in four eggs and 2 tsp vanilla.

3) Add 2 cups flour, 2 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp. cinnamon (dry ingredients mixed together).

4) Fold in 3 cups grated carrots. (My hands turned orange from grating all the carrots - remember to peel them.)

5) Pour into three greased and floured baking pans.

5) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, rotate pans half way through and don't overcook. (this last comment is Daddy's extra note to himself)

For the cream cheese icing:

1) Beat one stick of butter and 8 oz. cream cheese, beat in one box confectioners sugar. (Now I will note I did not follow the icing proportions because frankly that's a bit intense - I used closer to half a stick of butter with low fat cream cheese and about a third a box of confectioners sugar, so it was not overwhelmingly sweet and yet complimented the carrot-y cake well.)

2) Spread on cake and then press 1 cup of chopped pecans in between the layers and on the surface.

My father's advice for making this cake (and he's had years of experience!):

"Definitely grate the carrots by hand. The larger strips and size of the pieces with a standard grater improves the texture and moisture of the cake. I hand grate on the larger holes (not the tiny little ones) and measure the cups of volume by gently pressing the carrots down (not totally squishing them into a ball). It usually takes close to a whole pound of carrots after peeling and trimming, but I never start with a full bag, so I don’t know exactly.

Mix the sugar and oil with a spatula, beat the eggs into this mixture with the vanilla. Combine (ideally sift) the remaining dry ingredients together and add this mixture to the sugar/oil/egg and beat. I usually use a generous 2 tsp of cinnamon and a little bit of nutmeg (not too much). You then blend in the grated carrots but don’t need to beat too much. It will be very lumpy with carrot shreds. These don’t always go evenly into the three pans, so I stir it well and add it in parts to each pan (like 1/6, 1/6,1/6, and repeat instead of 1/3, 1/3,1/3.) The bottoms tend to stick, so make sure they are well greased and floured.

As noted, you don’t want them to be too dry after baking. I usually rearrange the pan a little over half way through by moving them from higher to lower and front to back, since the heat is different and with three plans they tend to block each other more.

Good luck!"

My first attempt at the cake:

Skinny Bitch Cookin'

I tried out this recipe from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch and thought it's really fantastic:

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup safflower oil

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 cups evaporated cane sugar (or other dry sweetener)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups finely shredded carrots (about two carrots)

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (can omit)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil two nine-inch cake plans and line with greased/flour-dusted parchment (I used a muffin pan to make mini muffins, which were adorable.)

2) In large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt.

3) Combine oil, carrots, applesauce, vanilla, stirring until smooth. Stir in flour mixture in 3 or 4 additions, mixing until barely combined. Add walnuts, fold in.

4) Transfer batter to pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, cool on racks for 10 minutes.

5) Spread top with vegan cream cheese frosting.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

12 ounces vegan cream cheese frosting

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 cups powdered sugar

1) In a In bowl combine cream cheese, vanilla, salt, mixing on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Increase speed to high and beat fluffy, 1-2 minutes.