Carrot Cake (Creaming Method)

Most carrot cakes use oil, this recipe from Emeril Legasse is all butter and 100% creaming method goodness.

Carrot Cake

For this demo, I made half the recipe because we only have 3 people at home and I didn't want a huge cake. It would also make great cupcakes or carrot bread.

INGREDIENTS:

CARROT CAKE:

3 sticks (room temperature)
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped toasted pecans (optional)

PECAN CREAM CHEESE ICING:

8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
4 cups confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped toasted pecans (optional)

EQUIPMENT:

Hand mixer and mixing bowl or stand mixer
Silicone spatula
Measuring cups and spoons
Cake pan, loaf pan, or muffin tin
Offset spatula or butter knife or spoon
Bread Knife (optional)
Sifter

Step 1: Wash your hands with soap and water

Step 2: Mise en Place & Preheat oven to 350 F

Make sure you have everything you need before you start

Step 3: Shred your carrots

I like my carrots finely grated so that they melt right in with the cake batter. If you want a bit more texture (and less work) you can use the larger side of the grater. I didn't have enough carrots at home, so I had to borrow some baby carrots from a neighbor. They totally work, but boy was that annoying! I recommend using full sized carrots if you can.

Don't use pre-shredded carrots from the store. They are typically too dry and large to work well in this cake.

Step 4: Cream butter on high speed until light

Because this is a creaming method recipe, we'll start by beating the room temperature butter until it is soft.

Remember, I am only making half the recipe in my photos.

Step 5: Add granulated sugar and cream again on high speed

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (at least 5 minutes). Don't forget to stop every couple of minutes and scrape down the sides of your bowl. We are incorporating air here which will keep our cake from being heavy and dense.

Step 6: Add liquids 7 mix to combine

In this case, we're adding eggs and vanilla. Because of the moisture that will be released from the carrots, there are no additional liquids.

Combine:

4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Your batter should still look fluffy and light. It's ok if it looks slightly curdled or broken at this stage, it will come together when we add the dry ingredients.

Step 7: In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients

Combine :

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Step 8: Add dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed until combined

You want the dry ingredients fully incorporated, so make sure you stop to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, but then stop mixing once there are no dry spots and the batter looks consistent!

Step 9: Add carrots and pecans (if using) and stir until just combined

Your batter should be thick and scoopable

Step 10: Prepare baking pan & put batter in pan

If you are making cupcakes, either spray it with pan spray or use pan liners. For any other type of cake pan, spray with pan spray and lightry dust with flour.

Be sure to level your batter so your cake will bake evenly.

Step 11: Bake at 350 F until done (mine took 38 minutes)

Cupcakes will take a much shorter time, and the full recipe will take longer. Sorry I can't be more specific, but pan sizes drastically change the baking time.

Step 12: When cake is cool, remove it from pan

You might want to run a butterknife or offset spatula around the edge of the pan and if it still seems to be stuck, you can bang the pan on the counter a few times.

Step 13: Make the icing

Mix together butter and cream cheese until smooth and light

Sift in powdered sugar

Once icing is forming, add in vanilla extract

My vanilla is Mexican Vanilla and it is very thick and syrupy and very brown. In the next photos you'll see that it turns my icing brown, but when I continue to beat my icing, more air gets incorporated and it lightens back up

You can overmix cream cheese icing. It will become soupy and difficult to use for icing a cake. So stop mixing once you're happy with the consistency.

If your icing seems too stiff and dry, try adding a teaspoon of water or milk

If your icing seems too wet, add a few tablespoons of powdered sugar.

Step 14: Finishing your cake

There are a million ways you can finish a cake, I decided to make my long rectangle into a square with one layer of filling, but I could have just topped it with icing, I could have coated it in pecans (if I had any). Google images is a great tool for finding cake decorating ideas.

I cut my cake in half

I leveled the top with a serrated bread knife. I probably could have skipped this step as my cake was very flat, but I wanted an excuse to taste my cake. It was delish!

I dolloped some icing on my bottom layer

And evenly spread it to create my cake filling

Next, I added the top layer of my cake. If it wasn't even on any sides, I could trim it with my serrated bread knife, but I was happy with how it looked.

Next, I used an offset spatula to ice the cake. Ideally, I would have put it in the refrigerator or freezer for a little bit first, but I was in a hurry to finish before Bonnie came in from playing outside

Try to apply an even coating of icing to all sides

I finished by adding some texture with my offset spatula, a shell border with a piping tip and a pastry bag, and my carrot candy roses and ribbons.

And then Bonnie came in and was sad that I'd decorated it without her, so I took off the candy and let her go nuts. Much better!

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