Carrot Cake
Carrot Cake
25 min bake, 180°C (160°C fan), three 24cm tins, serves 12
Ingredients
Cake pecans 260g brown sugar 300g caster sugar 100g vegetable oil 240ml eggs 4 apple sauce 180g vanilla extract 5ml plain flour 313g baking powder 8g bicarbonate of soda 6g salt 3g ground cinnamon 4g ground ginger 2g ground nutmeg 0.5g ground cloves 0.5g carrots (grated) 260g Frosting cream cheese 340g unsalted butter 113g icing sugar 480g vanilla extract 7.5ml salt pinch
Pecans or walnuts, half in the batter, half on top.
Carrots grated fine.
Full fat soft cheese, the light stuff goes runny.
A jar of apple sauce is fine.
Recipe
1. Heat the oven to 150°C (130°C fan). Toast the pecans on a tray for 7 minutes, then chop. Turn the oven up to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease and line three 24cm tins.
2. Whisk until smooth:
[oil 240ml, brown sugar 300g, caster sugar 100g, eggs 4, apple sauce 180g, vanilla 5ml]
Stand mixer: whisk attachment, medium.
3. Whisk the dry in another bowl:
[flour 313g, baking powder 8g, bicarb 6g, salt 3g, cinnamon 4g, ginger 2g, nutmeg 0.5g, cloves 0.5g]
Fold into the wet with the carrots and half the pecans, until just combined.
By hand, not the mixer, or it toughens.
4. Divide between the tins and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until a skewer in the middle comes out clean and the top springs back when pressed. Cool in the tins 1 hour, turn out onto a rack, and frost only when cold.
Tin size changes the bake. More or bigger tins make thinner layers, so start checking a few minutes early. Two tins instead of three, or smaller tins, bake longer: 30 to 35 minutes.
5. Drain the cream cheese in a paper lined sieve for 30 minutes. Beat the butter smooth, then beat in the icing sugar to a thick buttercream. Add the cold drained cream cheese, vanilla and salt and mix on low just until smooth. If it is slack, beat in more icing sugar a spoonful at a time until it holds its shape.
show the foolproof method
Paddle, not the whisk.1. Drain the cream cheese first: sit it in a sieve lined with kitchen paper, 30 minutes, to lose the loose water.
2. Butter on its own, medium, 1 min, until creamy.
3. Add the icing sugar, low then medium, 2 to 3 min, to a thick buttercream.
4. Add the cold drained cream cheese, vanilla and salt, low, 30 to 60 seconds, just until smooth. Stop there.
5. Still slack? Beat in more icing sugar a spoon at a time until it holds its shape.
It firms up cold. Chill before spreading, and the cake sets cleanest after a few hours in the fridge, ideally overnight.
🤓 The science: the slackness is water from the cream cheese. Draining removes it, butter and sugar first stop the rest pulling out, and the cold fridge sets the butter firm. Overbeating or creaming the cheese in early releases the water and turns it runny.
show photo
6. Stack the layers with frosting between each, then coat the top and sides and press the rest of the pecans on top. Chill a few hours, ideally overnight, to set fully before slicing.
❄ Freezer
Freeze: wrap the unfrosted layers well, or freeze finished slices.
Reheat: thaw at room temperature.
Keeps: 3 months frozen, 5 days in the fridge once frosted.