AuthorviagelatohawaiiCategoryBakingDifficultyIntermediateBest Carrot Cake recipe; be a potluck hero
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray non-stick spray OR rub butter and lightly flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
Sift and mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon
Beat the 4 eggs, then add the sugar and oil and whisk together. Fold in the dry ingredients that you mixed and sifted earlier.
Fold in the grated carrots and the nuts, coconut, raisins, pineapple
Distribute the batter into the 3 cake pans as even as you can.
Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over-bake them; the cakes are done when a knife poked into it is clean OR when you take the temp and it's 200-210 degrees.
Remove the pans from the oven and cool for 15-20 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. You can speed the process up by putting them on a granite countertop to wick away heat quickly, or sticking them in the freezer. Frozen cake is much easier to frost.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Cream on low to medium speed with the whisk attachment. Don't overmix. You know you're overmixing if the cream cheese starts looking super liquidy like a batter. It should just be whipped together. If you happened to overmix it, you'll have to let it cool down and chill so that the butter and cream cheese firm up from the liquified state of beating them too long.
With the mixer on low, gradually add the confectioner’s sugar, scraping down the bowl as needed. It should look like fluffy frosting. If it's a liquid that you can pour, you beat it too much. Let it cool down and chill in the fridge then try to whip it up again later to fluff it so that it's easily spreadable.
Frosting a cake for the first time can be a really messy business. Here are some tips that I use: Frost it directly on the plate that you intend to use to serve it on. Protect the plate from smears and crumbs by laying 4 pieces of parchment on all edges of the plate. Basically the cake will sit on the plate and the edges will be on the parchment strips. You can make an absolute mess and no one will know because you just pull the parchment out from under the cake at the end.
Make sure the cake is COLD, the colder the better (ie. frozen is easiest to frost). Put one cake down on the plate and the parchment strips.
PRO TIP: do not double dip the frosting spreader with scooping frosting in the bowl. Use TWO separate utensils. 1 offset spatula to spread frosting and 1 spatula to scoop frosting from the bowl. The reason for this is you do not want to contaminate your bowl of immaculate white frosting with bits of cake crumbs.
Spread a modest to thin layer of frosting across the cake and then add another cake layer. Most of the frosting is used on the outside of the cake. When you get to the last layer of cake, spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake. Don't worry that it looks messy. This thin layer that is on the outside is called the Crumb Coat. It is the messy layer that holds all the crumbs in. Put the cake in the fridge or freezer to chill. You want the crumb coat to get nice and hard so that when you spread the final coat, it is easy to apply.
Finally, when the Crumb Coat is cold and hard, wash and dry your off set spatula. You are now doing the final coat and you want it white without any crumbs sticking to your spatula from the Crumb Coat. For the Final Coat, use all the rest of your frosting to coat the rest of the cake. Use a knife to cut the bottom of the frosting where it touches the parchment so that it will be release the paper when you pull the parchment out. If you simply pull the parchment out without cutting an outline, the frosting will stick to the parchment and pull away from the cake. If this happens, simply cut the frosting that came off on the parchment and stick it back on the cake like clay.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray non-stick spray OR rub butter and lightly flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
Sift and mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon
Beat the 4 eggs, then add the sugar and oil and whisk together. Fold in the dry ingredients that you mixed and sifted earlier.
Fold in the grated carrots and the nuts, coconut, raisins, pineapple
Distribute the batter into the 3 cake pans as even as you can.
Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over-bake them; the cakes are done when a knife poked into it is clean OR when you take the temp and it's 200-210 degrees.
Remove the pans from the oven and cool for 15-20 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. You can speed the process up by putting them on a granite countertop to wick away heat quickly, or sticking them in the freezer. Frozen cake is much easier to frost.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Cream on low to medium speed with the whisk attachment. Don't overmix. You know you're overmixing if the cream cheese starts looking super liquidy like a batter. It should just be whipped together. If you happened to overmix it, you'll have to let it cool down and chill so that the butter and cream cheese firm up from the liquified state of beating them too long.
With the mixer on low, gradually add the confectioner’s sugar, scraping down the bowl as needed. It should look like fluffy frosting. If it's a liquid that you can pour, you beat it too much. Let it cool down and chill in the fridge then try to whip it up again later to fluff it so that it's easily spreadable.
Frosting a cake for the first time can be a really messy business. Here are some tips that I use: Frost it directly on the plate that you intend to use to serve it on. Protect the plate from smears and crumbs by laying 4 pieces of parchment on all edges of the plate. Basically the cake will sit on the plate and the edges will be on the parchment strips. You can make an absolute mess and no one will know because you just pull the parchment out from under the cake at the end.
Make sure the cake is COLD, the colder the better (ie. frozen is easiest to frost). Put one cake down on the plate and the parchment strips.
PRO TIP: do not double dip the frosting spreader with scooping frosting in the bowl. Use TWO separate utensils. 1 offset spatula to spread frosting and 1 spatula to scoop frosting from the bowl. The reason for this is you do not want to contaminate your bowl of immaculate white frosting with bits of cake crumbs.
Spread a modest to thin layer of frosting across the cake and then add another cake layer. Most of the frosting is used on the outside of the cake. When you get to the last layer of cake, spread a thin layer of frosting all over the cake. Don't worry that it looks messy. This thin layer that is on the outside is called the Crumb Coat. It is the messy layer that holds all the crumbs in. Put the cake in the fridge or freezer to chill. You want the crumb coat to get nice and hard so that when you spread the final coat, it is easy to apply.
Finally, when the Crumb Coat is cold and hard, wash and dry your off set spatula. You are now doing the final coat and you want it white without any crumbs sticking to your spatula from the Crumb Coat. For the Final Coat, use all the rest of your frosting to coat the rest of the cake. Use a knife to cut the bottom of the frosting where it touches the parchment so that it will be release the paper when you pull the parchment out. If you simply pull the parchment out without cutting an outline, the frosting will stick to the parchment and pull away from the cake. If this happens, simply cut the frosting that came off on the parchment and stick it back on the cake like clay.