Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe: the perfect moist dense carrot cake with raisins, pineapple and nuts and a delicious cream cheese icing.
This carrot cake with cream cheese frosting recipe is a favourite of mine. This three layer carrot cake is very moist, and the sweet, and creamy cream cheese frosting goes with it perfectly. The cake itself is not your regular carrot cake. It is loaded with grated carrots, crushed pineapple, raisins, walnuts, and warm spices that keep it moist and make it full of flavor.
I've always been a big fan of carrot cake, and the more stuff in it the better. This carrot cake recipe is definitely worth trying if you're a carrot cake fan. The frosting is delicious too, and the perfect amount for the cake. The three cake layers all also very impressive, which makes this cake perfect for any special occasions like Easter, Mother's Day, or a birthday celebration.
I first had this cake many years ago at a friends house. It was her Grandmother Lucy's old recipe, and a bit of a family treasure. It was the best carrot cake I had ever had before. We enjoyed it with a cup of tea and by the time we were finished I was asking her for the recipe. She kindly gave it to me and I've been making her Grandma Lucy's carrot cake with cream cheese frosting ever since. And on several occasions when I've made it for others, I've been asked for the recipe as well and happily passed on Grandma Lucy's recipe to my family and friends.
The extraordinary thing about this carrot cake recipe is that it has so many great extras in it, creating the most moist and delicious carrot cake ever.
Carrot Cake
Carrot cake can unfortunately be dry sometimes. There's nothing worse than the disappointment of biting into a dry slice of carrot cake. This carrot cake recipe though, is super moist. The moist cake is insured by the addition of not just grated carrots, but also crushed pineapple. The pineapple gives the cake amazing flavour, but also ensures a nice moist texture as well. It's such a great addition to the cake. This cake is also loaded with dried fruits and nuts that give it wonderful richness. There are two kinds of raisins in this cake, regular raisins and golden raisins. Golden raisins are typically softer, sweeter, and moister than regular raisins, and such a great addition to this cake. The walnuts add a nice crunch to the cake. If you prefer, or need to make this cake nut free you can leave them out.
Adding grated carrot to cakes was a war time measure when sugar was in short supply. It helped add sweetness to cakes so that wartime cooks could use less sugar. Everyone loved it some much that after the war it continued to be a favourite. We peeled and grated our large fresh carrots with the fine side of box grater. You can also use a food processor to make the grating even faster. I won't recommend using pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store in this recipe because they're too coarsely grated and also they tend to dry out and don't add much moisture to the cake. For the best results use freshly grated large carrots.
This cake uses butter instead of oil. The butter adds the best flavor and contributes to the denseness of the cake.
Any classic carrot cake recipe also includes an array of warm spices. We used ground cinnamon and allspice. This recipe has a perfect amount of spices, that create a flavourful cake but don't overpower the whole cake.
Cream Cheese Frosting
This cake has the best cream cheese frosting. It is the perfect addition to this delicious cake. It's sweet and creamy and an easy recipe to put together. Be sure to use room temperature cream cheese and butter to make the frosting so that they will easily incorporate with the powdered sugar and create a smooth lump free icing.
No need for a piping bag to ice the finished cake. After it's completely cooled use an offset spatula to spread the frosting evenly between the layers, and then all over the finished homemade carrot cake.
Store the cake in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator.
This is such a delicious moist carrot cake. It's full of delicious ingredients in addition to carrots, like pineapple, raisins, and walnuts that make it so delicious and never dry. The cream cheese icing is the perfect finishing touch to add some sweetness and creaminess and that cream cheese tang. Once you try this recipe, it's sure to become your go to one, and don't be surprised if your guests ask you for the recipe too.
Recipe
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup melted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 can 398 mL crushed pineapple, drained
- 2 cups lightly packed grated carrots
- ½ cup golden raisins
- ¼ cup raisins
- ½ cup walnuts chopped
- 2 cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup butter room temperature.
- 4 cups icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter three 8 inch cake pans, and line with parchment paper.
- Beat melted butter with sugar until well combined in the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add in eggs, one at a time, until well combined.
- Stir in drained pineapple, shredded carrots, raisins, and walnuts.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground allspice and whisk together. - Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in the stand mixer until well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula part way through the mixing process.
- Divide the carrot cake batter evenly between the three cake pans. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool cakes completely before icing on a wire rack.
- To prepare the frosting, beat the cream cheese with the butter until smooth. gradually add icing sugar, beating until frosting is light and fluffy.
- Place bottom layer on a cake plate, and spread ¼ of the frosting on top with an offset spatula. Add the second cake layer on top and repeat with another ¼ of frosting. Finally top the cake with the third layer. use the rest of the rest of the remaining frosting to cover the sides of the cake and the top of the cake.
Nutrition
With this amazing moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to enjoy, life really is a party!
More Dessert Recipe Inspiration
You might also like our Classic Cheesecake recipe here.
Also check out our Black Forest Cake in a Mason Jar recipe here.
You might also enjoy our Cherry Almond Coffee Cake recipe here.
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