Carrot Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Today was one of those days where I found myself going down the YouTube rabbit hole. It all started with watching Beyoncé’s Coachella performance, which omg was amazing. And that turned into watching various documentaries/interviews with Beyoncé and Jay Z, to finding behind the scene clips from various Beyoncé music videos. And suddenly I realized it was already a couple hours later.

These YouTube rabbit hole days are often also accompanied by continuous procrastination. Do you ever just have those days where you can’t focus, and instead jump from topic to topic, never really accomplishing anything. So far, writing this has taken me an hour because I keep googling various things, paroozing through Instagram, listening to various songs that I feel I must listen to at this very second, and writing down my to do list before we leave for vacation next week.  

These days tend to happen on days where I have no plans. Ever since college I have been accustomed to juggling multiple different responsibilities while doing my work – whether that be jobs, time with friends, Cru, or being a RA. The structure of only having an allotted amount of time to do my homework/study forced me to become more productive and efficient with my time. I remember getting a job after my first semester of nursing school because without that extra time commitment I was finding my studying to become less productive and procrastination to sneak into my life. So basically, I don’t do great with unstructured free time, yet I also crave free time. It’s extremely conflicting I know.

What’s not conflicting though is how amazing this carrot cake is. I am one of those people that LOVES carrot cake. Like give me carrot cake over any other kind of cake please. Alex and I had carrot cake at our wedding (and freshly made mini donuts), both of which I did not eat enough of before we left for our honeymoon that night. My family’s carrot cake recipe is one of the “new-aged” recipes that includes crushed pineapple, raisins, nuts, and shredded coconut. While I love that recipe, I decided to go a different direction with this particular recipe and make it taste more like a spice cake. Loaded with cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves the cake has the perfect amount of spice to balance the earthy tones of the carrots, and the sweetness of the cream cheese frosting. Extremely easy to make this is a no-fuss recipe and is great for any occasion!

Carrot Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep time:

Bake time:

Serves: 20

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/3 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/3 cups oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla, divided
  • 2 cups shredded carrots
  • 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 3 cups powdered sugar, pre-sifted

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9"x13" sheet pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray, set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cardamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each egg. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and the shredded carrots.
  4. Gently fold in 1/2 of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the remaining dry ingredients.
  5. Transfer the batter to the pre-lined sheet pan. Using a spatula, evenly smooth the batter. Bake for 35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  6. Allow the cake to cool in the pan. Once cool, lift the cake out of the pan by using the overhung parchment paper, and move to a cooling rack.
  7. Prepare the frosting. In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy.
  8. Add the powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and a pinch of salt.
  9. Frost the cake as desired. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.