The Best Carrot Cake Recipe 🥕

Now we take an offset spatula. This is Grandma Rosemary's offset spatula, so she's going to bring me power, although she wasn't that great of a froster either. I think when you think of carrot cake, sometimes you think of either a dry cake or sometimes it's like a little bit stodgy, the opposite of dry. Today, I'm showing you the best ever carrot cake with the ultimate silky smooth cream cheese frosting. This cake, what I love about it is it's so moist, so soft. It's not your average carrot cake. We've got a couple little secret ingredients in there that just take it up a notch. I'm Danielle Sepsi, and this is Best Bake Ever. What's so nice about a carrot cake is you can make it all year round. This is one of my family's favorite recipes. I make it for Easter birthdays. It's one of my most requested cake recipes. Quick, take a screenshot. This is what you need. Don't forget, if you want more recipes like this, like and subscribe down below. We start with beautiful carrots. We want them really fine. What that's going to help with is get as much moisture as possible into the cake. In my bakery, I have a little motto. It better be so moist you could wring it out, all right? And that's what I want in a cake. That should do the trick. This is what I mean when I say fine carrots. Look at this. They're very moist and a little bit wetter. You get instantly hit with that smell of sweet carrot. We need two cups. This looks like we have just the right amount, if not a little bit more. Let's move on to our batter. We have all-purpose flour. We've got some baking soda. When you think of carrot cake, you think of grandma's house. And you think of warm spices and cozy notes when you think of grandma. At least I do. So I'm going to put some cinnamon, but a good amount. Two teaspoons. Then we have nutmeg. Nutmeg is better in moderation. When you go a little too overboard with the nutmeg, it sort of becomes a little bit soapy in flavor, in my opinion. If you have the pre-measured pumpkin pie spice, you totally can use that. I'd probably put a good tablespoon or so. But I like to control the balance. And for me, I want a little more cinnamon and a little less ginger. And nutmeg in my carrot cake. So I say it's best to do your own, just so you can really control the flavor. We have a lot of wonderful flavors in here. But with no salt, nothing will pop. We really want everything to shine. Whisk it together. Now it's time to start our wet ingredients, if you will. This cake starts off a little bit unique. There's no butter. You'll rarely hear me say there's no butter in a recipe. But today, this is an oil-based cake. So it makes it extra rich and really, really moist. So I have white granulated sugar. To that, I'm going to add three eggs. It's really important that we have that lift, that we have that binding element. Because you need something to kind of lock everything together. Just hit your egg one time. That's all you need. And then you're less likely to get a shell in your eggs. Just one tap. Look at that. Clean break. We're going to beat our eggs into our sugar. We're going to add some neutral oil. I'm using canola oil or vegetable oil here. You can also use avocado oil if you have that on hand. Just something that doesn't have a strong, robust flavor but is going to add that fat and moisture that we need here. And then our pure vanilla extract. It just complements the pineapple, that sweet, natural carrot, those warm spices. It just all comes together into this aromatic, over-the-top, delicious experience. This is what sets mine apart. I think it takes it to this southern, delicious place. Buttermilk. It's adding richness and moisture, some fat, and also help our baking soda to really activate and give us that plush, wonderful texture we're looking for in a cake. Now all the mix-ins. We've got the carrots, the star of the show. We need two cups. There's a lot of vegetables in this, OK, guys? It's basically a health food. It's basically a salad. Sometimes I have leftover carrots, and I try to feed it to my dog. But he doesn't want to eat all the things that regular dogs eat, carrots, blueberries, all those things. No. He just wants carbs. And you know what? I am his mom after all, so. So we've got crushed pineapple. It adds tang, brightness, acid, but also the moisture. And you kind of don't know it's there, but without it, you miss it. And a little secret. At the bakery, we make a vegan carrot muffin. And that is also my secret, a little crushed pineapple. Now coconut. I've been trying to do the math. And it seems like 60% of people love coconut. 40% of people do not. You don't have to put it in, but that flavor really complements all the warm spices and the nuts as well. So I love to put it in. I think it also helps kind of bind everything together. And then nuts. You guys know I'm a Long Island girl. I say pecan. Maybe you say pecan. What is right, really? They're buttery. They're warm. They have kind of caramel notes to them. You can also use walnuts. You can do a blend. I know it's ready when everything is just blended. There's no lumps of sugar. Everything's homogenous. We can add our dry ingredients. Now this is when you don't want to go crazy with the mixing. Just add it in. Mix it just until everything is combined. It looks like we're fully mixed, but let's stop it. Let's scrape it down. Just make sure we're good to go. I just saw into my future. This is giving baby food vibes. I have two 8-inch cake pans. I have had many cakes get stuck in a pan. So we really need to make sure that we spray these properly. And I like to put a disk of parchment paper and then spray it a little bit again, just a little. We're ready. Roll up my sleeves. Of course, you could weigh your batter and make sure you have the exact same amount in each pan. But ain't nobody got time for that. And it's as simple as that. So we're going to just eyeball it. Just look from the side. Pour a little bit in one, then the other. This does make a good amount of batter. So if you want to do a three-layer cake, you can also do three layers. Just have them be a little bit thinner. I have a convection oven, so I'm going to bake these cakes at 325. I just kind of want this to bake slow and low a little bit, just so it retains its moisture. It'll sort of create steam heat around the sides of the pan and just really lock in that sweet, moist goodness. My oven is preheated. It's time to bake them. I like to bake them in the center, just so everything bakes evenly. And these should take about 30 to 40 minutes. There may be some carryover cook time, so don't overbake. Just cook them until they're just set. Then we'll take them out. We'll let them cool a couple minutes, flip them out onto a wire rack. And then it's time to make our frosting. Our cakes are out of the oven. Look at that beautiful golden color. You know that they're done, too, because they've pulled away from the sides of the pan a little bit. I let them cool about 15 minutes. Now we're going to flip them out onto a wire rack, just to ensure that they're fully cool. Let's flip it over. They come out beautifully, because we did cooking spray and parchment. Let's make our cream cheese frosting. It goes on the carrot cake. Of course, but it's super versatile. Growing up, my mom liked to make pumpkin bread. Cut me a big, thick slab, and you put this on that. Mine has a couple little extras. For my ultimate cream cheese frosting, screenshot right now. Butter, I've missed you. We didn't have you in the cake. But of course, there's always butter somewhere in the wings waiting for me. So we've got some softened butter, cream cheese, room temperature, just so it's easier to incorporate. And then, say it with me, guys, this is where the Italian comes in, mascarpone, or mascarpone cheese. It makes this light and fluffy. Good pinch of salt, vanilla extract, couple teaspoons. And then, another little secret, guys, lemon juice. Why lemon juice? That little bit of acid plays with that cream cheese, that tang, and just elevates everything and really makes the flavors pop so, so much. So don't leave this out. We need about two teaspoons, not too much, just a little bit. Goes a long way. This will also loosen it up a little bit in case our frosting is too thick. Let's just get this beaten until it's smooth and creamy. I'm using the whisk attachment so that I really make sure we don't have any lumps. We're getting some air in there as well. Looks great. Let's add our powdered sugar in. This is where things can get messy. What's great about frosting is it's really forgiving. You really can't over mix it, I would say. So take your time. Get it all in there. I would not use regular sugar in a frosting. It'll be really, really gritty. We want light and fluffy and creamy. And just like that, I think we have perfect frosting for our carrot cake. And the best part is I can taste this because there's no raw egg or anything like that. We can just get on in there. That mascarpone. No, marscapone. See, I did it. You caught me. I said mascarpone. That mascarpone just lightens everything up. It is light as air. It is tangy, but not too over the top tangy. Our cakes are perfectly cooled. Our icing is looking creamy and luscious and ready to just slather on this baby. So this is my technique. I'm really a rustic cake person. I love when it looks like it's homemade and not too manufactured. So I really like to just not go too fussy with it. I use a little ice cream scoop to place some in the center of my cake. We want about a half inch layer or so. Now we take an offset spatula. And I have mine on a little turntable. I'm a DJ now. We're going to turn and just swoop, leaving a little bit of space at the edge. Because once we put that cake on top, it'll help it spread out even more. We frosted the bottom, technically. Now I'm going to put the slightly more rounded top layer upside down, like so. I'm going to roll up my sleeves. We don't want to be wearing the cream cheese frosting. I mean, I kind of do, but. This is Grandma Rosemary's offset spatula. So she's going to bring me power, although she wasn't that great of a froster either. We're just going to push towards the sides. While we turn, let it move down and just coat all around. And it doesn't have to be perfect, because we are going to encrust this baby with coconut and more pecans. I'm going to go a little bit more for the sides. But I always start at the top, because it's hard to get the frosting on the side. So I put it on the top first, and then I let it sort of gradually fall as I'm turning. I'm going to put just a little bit more frosting on top. Then I'm going to switch back to my small offset spatula. We're just going to get that southern, swoopy look to the top of our cake. Just, again, rustic, not fussy. I'm just doing really effortless swoops. Now our coconut and our nuts. This is optional, of course. We're just going to pat it right into the side. And again, I put a thin layer of frosting, because if it's too much, it might just melt right off. So thin layer is great on the sides if you're doing this technique. I really like to see the cake shine through a little bit. It tells me that's a carrot cake in there, and I want some. Some coconut will fall down. It's totally OK. Just pick it back up. Put it in another area. Looking good. Pecan or pecan time. I'm just going to do it around the perimeter. It adds a really nice crunch, too, to this. I think our masterpiece is complete. Again, home-baked looking, but still so impressive. It's the moment that we've all been waiting for, especially me and my baby in here. Let's grab a big serrated knife. We're just going to do a clean cut. It is so tender and soft. You ready? The moment of truth. Wait, come on now. Look at that. The pecans are perfectly dispersed throughout. You've got the coconut in there. You've got the perfect amount of frosting. Here we go. Look at this. So soft. It's really tender. It's perfectly spiced. It's got a little crunch from the nuts. And it's hearty, too. There's still so much depth to this because of all the wonderful things we put in there. I know I said it before, but this is the best carrot cake ever. Don't forget to like and subscribe down below for more recipes like this amazing carrot cake with the most luscious cream cheese frosting. This is best baked ever. We're cleaning as we go, guys. I try my best to do that. My husband will watch this and say, who's cleaning as you go? I'm cleaning as you go.