Triple-Layer Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
"Simply the best carrot cake!! This is a once-a-year indulgence in our household, but it's worth every last crumb! The cake is so moist, and the frosting is wonderful! Rave reviews every time. From Bon Appetit, October 2004."
photo by Lisa S.
- Ready In:
- 1hr 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 16
- Yields:
-
1 Cake
- Serves:
- 10
ingredients
-
CAKE
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1⁄2 cups vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 cups finely grated peeled carrots (about 1 pound)
- 1⁄2 cup pecan pieces
- 1⁄2 cup seedless raisin
-
FROSTING
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
- 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
directions
- For cake:.
- Preheat oven to 325°F Lightly grease three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Lightly grease waxed paper. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and vegetable oil in bowl until combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into sugar and oil mixture. Stir in carrots, chopped pecans and raisins.
- Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing equally. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean and cakes begin to pull away from sides of pans, about 45 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic and store at room temperature.).
- For frosting:.
- Using electric mixer, beat all ingredients in medium bowl until smooth and creamy.
- Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with another cake layer. Spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Using icing spatula, spread remaining frosting in decorative swirls over sides and top of cake. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate.) Serve cake cold or at room temperature.
Questions & Replies
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Can I add pineapple to this cake?
Reviews
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Just Fabulous! I tweaked it a wee bit and use my own cream cheese frosting recipe. Thank you for sharing, this is a top seller for my customers, they all say it is the best carrot cake they ever had!
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My step dad has been eating this carrot cake, literally, every single day for the last year! It always gets the quote "I don't normally eat carrot cake... BUT.... this is the most delicious cake I've ever tasted" I've been making it for many years even before my step father. I did however tweak the recipe somewhat. I double the recipe which works perfectly. To the batter I add 1 cup of shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened.. Your choice). I add 1- 20oz can of drained crushed Pineapple and I use yellow Raisins. Since there is enough flavors going on in the cake, I put the pecans in the Frosting. With the additions I've made, this cake is moist, Chunky and irresistible. When I double the recipe I can make 2 layer, 3 layer or more. However you choose. The layers you don't use can be wrapped in plastic wrap, then put in a zip lock bag. They will stay for months. Just make sure the layers a still slightly frozen when used. I hope you like my tweaks. Thanks, Liz PS... I use pre shredded carrots from the market. So you can see the strips of carrot.
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We're not big fans of nuts, so I removed the pecans from the recipe. Nevertheless, it still tasted fantastic! Everyone loved every bit of it. I'll be making this again sometime soon. :) -
absolutely hands down the BEST carrot cake...I made a few adjustments such as, I added walnuts to the pecans (total of l and one half cups of nuts) and I increased the raisin content to l cup, and I put the carrots in the food processor so they were not too fine, the cake wound up having amazing texture, moist yet substantial. I added another package (8oz of cream cheese to the frosting, it was to die for! This cake was an enormous hit with everyone and I will be making it a permanent in my recipe file. Thank you! -
Best carrot cake ever!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I love to cook. I can't wait for the day when my husband and I move from our apartment into a fully loaded professional kitchen (with a house around it!!). I work in the health and wellness field and so try to balance my love of rich chocolate (especially bittersweet) and other desserts with light entrees featuring plenty of lean protein and vegetables. I collect more recipes than I have time to make in a lifetime (and am always on the lookout for more!). For fun, when I'm not searching for recipes (God bless the internet, epicurious and recipezaar), I'm spending time with my husband and on the road making weekend trips to visit family in neighboring states (and trying out recipes on them - gotta take advantage of having more people around!). Pet peeves? Fast food and people who say they don't have time to cook with their family and make nutritious meals, but spend 3 hours watching tv instead.... rant :|
