Old Fashioned Carrot Cake
This is the recipe that I have kept in my recipe card file since the early 70’s. It’s grandma approved, time tested, basic and delicious! There are no extra ingredients to distract from that golden carrot flavor and only a few spices to enhance its warmth. Just pure, moist Old Fashioned Carrot Cake covered generously with classic Cream Cheese Icing.
Notes:
- Shred the carrots as finely as you can. When you take a bite of carrot cake you don’t want to chew shreds of undercooked carrot.
- Another way to guarantee that the carrots will be soft is to partially cook them before adding them to the batter. I use a pot with a tight fitting lid and add 2 tablespoons of water to the carrots. I then cook them over medium low heat for 10 minutes. This doesn’t get them soft or mushy. But they get a head start on cooking overall.
- I love Cream Cheese Icing and don’t like to skimp when icing a layer cake. The icing recipe given here is for a two-to-three-layer cake. If you cook this in a Bundt pan you can easily cut it back by one third.
- When icing a layer cake, make sure the cake is completely cooled. Many bakeries bake the layers on one day, cover them tightly and refrigerate them to frost the next day.
- 3 cup Carrots (grated fine)
- 3/4 cup Salad Oil
- 1/4 cup Lt. Brown Sugar
- 1 1/2 cup White Sugar
- 4 Large Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup Whole Milk
- 2 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Allspice
- 3/4 cup Chopped Pecans (optional)
- 3/4 cup Raisins (optional)
- 12 oz Cream Cheese (softened, 1 1/2 bricks)
- 6 oz Butter (softened, 1 1/2 sticks)
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 6 cup Confectioners Sugar
Preheat oven to 350°F (325°F for a Bundt pan)
Grease and flour pans. Use 3-8” pans, 2-9” pans or one 10” Bundt pan. If making a layer cake, cut parchment paper to fit the bottoms of each pan. Grease the sides and bottoms, then spread the parchment paper round on the bottoms and grease that, too. For all pans, tap flour all around the inside surfaces, then tap each pan to eliminate excess flour. Set aside.
Finely shred carrots, then place shredded carrots into a small pot with a well-fitting lid. Add 2 tablespoons of water and place over medium low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Carrots should soften but should not be mushy. Remove lid and set aside to cool. (Carrots don’t need to be room temperature for this cake but should be allowed to cool as they sit. In fact, adding warm carrots and cooking immediately will not harm the rise. This shortens cooking time as well.)
With an electric mixer, beat together the oil and sugars on medium setting.
Add the eggs, mixing completely with each addition. Add Vanilla Extract and increase speed to medium high for three minutes.
Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon and allspice.
Add half of the dry ingredients, then the ½ cup milk, then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing well with each addition.
Fold in raisins and pecans, if using.
Stir in carrots and immediately distribute into cake pans or pour into Bundt pan. (Layers will bake more consistently if you can evenly fill them using a kitchen scale.)
Bake the Bundt pan for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or the layers for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the center/thickest part comes out clean.
Cool cake in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely.
Frost when cake is completely cooled.
Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and process at low speed until all ingredients are well blended. Increase speed to medium high and beat for 5 minutes or until lightened and fluffy.
If icing is too thick add milk ½ teaspoon at a time, to desired consistency.