This recipe for New Favorite Carrot Cake with 5-Minute Cream Cheese Buttercream is moist, flavorful and packed with fruit, nuts and carrots. Before adding the raisins to the batter, they are soaked in spiced rum.
If you’re looking for your new favorite carrot cake with cream cheese buttercream recipe for Easter or otherwise, look no further.
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When is Carrot Cake Appropriate? Easter, but honestly, any time.
I could eat this carrot cake every day. Although, I choose not to make this carrot cake too often over the course of the year. I make it primarily at Easter and again in the fall when the weather starts to turn cooler. I have a couple dear friends who love carrot cake and I will break my own in-house rules to make them a cake when it’s their birthday. Honestly, if I made it any more often than that, I’d probably end up eating the whole cake myself. It really is that good.
Another Easter or summer favorite at our house is my recipe for Easy Pineapple Coconut Cake with 5-Ingredient Rum Buttercream. It’s a slice of tropical heaven. Light coconut cream, pineapple, vanilla and a splash or two or rum make this cake super tender and delicious. Between this Pineapple Coconut Cake and this recipe for carrot cake with 5-minute cream cheese buttercream, there’s no better way to welcome spring via dessert.
Another great spring or summer option is my recipe for Gluten Free Lemon Thyme Cornmeal Cake, which I like to serve with a Thyme Infused Blueberry Sauce. This cake olive oil and cornmeal cake is extremely moist, tender and gluten free. Lemon zest and thyme are baked into the cake – giving it a bright, herbal notes. Served with my thyme infused blueberry sauce, it’s a little slice of heaven. Your gluten free friends and family will truly appreciate having a dessert they can enjoy and honestly, your gluten-loving guests won’t even mind that it’s a gluten free cake. It’s truly that good.
A quick word on spiced rums
Not all spiced rums are created equal. And although each may be good in their own right, that doesn’t mean each one is interchangeable for a given job. For this recipe, I prefer Trader Vic’s Spiced Rum. It imparts subtle notes of vanilla and spice that enhance the flavors of the cake without screaming, “Hey, there’s booze in here!” I tasted a number of spiced rums before landing on this one. Some were slightly smokey while others were overly sweet with competing flavors. You can use any spiced rum. However, I recommend doing a taste test first to ensure it will work with the dessert.
Why I use alcohol in so many recipes
I often use spirits in my cooking as a way to coax out the flavors of other ingredients. This recipe for New Favorite Carrot Cake with 5-Minute Cream Cheese Buttercream is a perfect example of that. My objective is not to have the flavor of rum be the dominate flavor of this desert. Rather, it’s to enhance the fruit and spice notes of the cake itself. Of course, the rum can be left out all together and the carrot cake will still be very good. However, something magical – bordering on alchemy happens when you add it in, so give it a try.
Raisins or no raisins? That is the question.
In terms of the age old debate over whether to add raisins to a carrot cake, I like them and I like to soak them in rum. If you have an objection to either, you may omit them, but you’ll lose some of the layering of flavors that takes place during the baking process.
New Favorite Carrot Cake with 5-Minute Cream Cheese Buttercream
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Intermediate12-18
servings30
minutes40
minutesThis moist and flavorful cake is packed with fruit, nuts and carrots and finished is a whipped cream cheese buttercream.
Ingredients
- For the Cake
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup A.P. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup canned pineapple tidbits, drained and patted dry with a paper towel
1/2 cup golden raisins, soaked in 3 Tbsp. of spiced rum for 15 minutes (optional)
1 1/4 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup additional walnuts (finely ground) for decorating sides and top of cake.
- For the Cream Cheese Buttercream
2 sticks unsalted European-style butter, room temperature
16 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
5 cups confectioners sugar
pinch of salt
- For finishing the cake
1 cup toasted ground walnuts
Directions
- Prepare the carrot cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Prepare two 8-inch round baking pans by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and spraying the sides with nonstick spray. Set aside. If you are doing cupcakes, congratulations! You can skip this step.
- In a small bowl, sprinkle the rum over the raisins and allow to soak for 15 minutes. Set aside. You can skip this step, but it really adds another layer of flavor to the cake.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the oil, eggs and sugar and blend over medium-low speed for one minute.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and blend until completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add the carrots, pineapple, rum-soaked raisins and walnuts and mix until thoroughly combined, but do not over mix.
- Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake at 325 degree F for approximately 35 – 40 minutes. The layers are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If you are baking cupcakes, the time will be closer to 18 – 25 minutes, depending on the size of your cup cake papers.
- Allow the layers to cool completely in the pan. Invert them over a plate or cardboard cake circle to remove them from the pans. The layers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to two days before decorating. If double wrapped in both plastic and foil, they can be frozen for up to two weeks.
- Prepare the Cream Cheese Buttercream
- In a medium-size mixing bowl or stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to whip the cream cheese until soft and smooth.
- Gradually add the butter to the cream cheese. Scrape down the sides between additions to ensure it is fully incorporated and there are no lumps of cream cheese or butter in the mix.
- Once the cream cheese and butter are creamed, add the lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Don’t skip the salt. It’s just a pinch and it really wakes up the flavor of the buttercream.
- Gradually add one cup of the powdered sugar at a time. Incorporate it into the creamed mixture at low speed. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Once all the sugar has been added, increase the speed to medium high and whip for an additional 2-3 minutes, until smooth and light. The buttercream can be made up to a week in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When ready to ice your cake or cupcakes, allow the buttercream to sit at room temperature for an hour and give it a quick whip with the mixer so it spreads easier.
- Frosting the cake or cupcake
- If you’re making cupcakes, congratulations again! You can pipe or spread the buttercream over the cupcakes and decorate with a sprinkle of ground walnuts and call it good. If you’re frosting a cake, continue to the next step.
- Have your cake plate ready. Place one layer in the center of the plate. Add approximately 3/4 cup of the buttercream to the center and spread evenly over the top of the layer with a decorating spatula. Gently work the buttercream to the edges of the cake round. Place the second layer on top of the first so that the smooth bottom of the second layer is facing upward.
- Add another 3/4 cup of butter cream to the top of the cake and spread to the edges of the cake. Spread the buttercream around the sides of the cake. Smooth the top, but don’t worry if the sides aren’t perfect. All will be hidden and forgiven when the walnuts are applied to the sides.
- Cup a small amount of the ground walnuts in your hand. With your palm facing up, gently begin to apply them to the sides of the cake by starting at the bottom and working your way up the side toward the top edge in a fluid, motion. Continue your way around the cake in sections until the sides are covered. Give the nuts a gentle press to secure them in place.
- Using a pastry bag and tip of your choosing, pipe 12 rosettes around the top of the cake. Evenly space them like the numbers on a clock to mark servings.
- Store finished cake and cupcakes covered in the refrigerator.
Been craving carrot cake lately and decided to try this one out. It is super moist and has incredible flavor! Can not wait to make this for Easter.