Carrot Cake

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This layered carrot cake recipe is everything a classic carrot cake should be: ultra-moist, perfectly spiced, and layered with a silky cream cheese-mascarpone frosting.

Prep Time35

Cook Time25

Waiting time2

Total Time3

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 666kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Carrot cake sponges

290 g Vegetable oil
200 g Granulated sugar
150 g Brown sugar
4 Egg at room temperature
330 g All purpose sifted
1¼ teaspoon Baking powder
1¼ teaspoon Baking soda
3 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Salt
300 g Carrot peeled and freshly shredded

Cream Cheese Frosting

900 g Cream cheese full fat (33%+) e.g. Philadelphia, use it cold
340 g Mascarpone full fat (41%+), use it cold
180 g Powdered sugar sifted
1½ teaspoon Vanilla extract

Decoration

orange and green gel food coloring for the carrot piped pattern
55 g chopped walnuts

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Make the carrot cake sponges

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease a 20 cm (8-inch) round cake pan or line it with parchment paper for easier removal.
Using an electric hand mixer, whip the room temperature eggs, oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together for 1-2 minutes until smooth and well combined.
Sift the dry ingredients—flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt—into the wet mixture. Gently fold them in, then fold in the shredded carrots.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 175°C (350°F) for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the carrot cake sponges cool to room temperature before frosting.

Cream cheese frosting

Whip together the cream cheese, mascarpone, vanilla, and sifted powdered sugar using an electric hand mixer for a few minutes. Once the frosting reaches a fluffy, pipeable consistency, stop whipping to avoid it becoming runny.

Assemble the cake

Place the first sponge layer on a serving plate or cake board, and spread 300 g of frosting evenly over the top, gently pushing it toward the edges. Add the second sponge layer, then repeat the step with another 300 g of frosting, keeping the layer as even as possible so the cake stays stable. Place the third sponge layer on top and gently press it down to align the cake. Chill the cake for about 1 hour so the structure firms up and the frosting layers set.
Next, apply a crumb coat, which is a thin layer of frosting spread over the entire cake (side and top as well). Its purpose is not to decorate but to trap loose crumbs and create a smooth base for the final finish. It will look very light and slightly messy at this stage, which is completely normal. I am using about 300g frosting for the crumb coat. Chill the cake again for about 1 hour to allow the crumb coat to set properly.
Make sure to set aside a portion of frosting for decorating the top later, including the piping and carrot decorations.
After that, apply the final layer of frosting, smoothing it evenly over the top and sides until the cake has a clean, finished appearance.
For the carrot decoration, color one portion of the cream cheese frosting green and the other orange using high-quality gel food coloring. Transfer the colored frostings into two separate piping bags fitted with a small round nozzle. Pipe carrot shapes on top of the cream cheese frosting, as shown in the picture.
To complete the look, finish the decor with chopped walnuts sprinkled over the top and around the edges, as shown in the image.

Storage

Store the carrot cake in the refrigerator, covered or in an airtight container, for up to 3 days. Because of the frosting, it needs to be kept chilled.
The assembled carrot cake should not be frozen, as the frosting and structure won’t thaw well. However, the sponge layers freeze very well. Once completely cooled, wrap each sponge tightly in plastic wrap and then in foil, or place them in an airtight container. The sponges can be frozen for up to 2–3 months without losing quality.
To use, thaw the sponges in the refrigerator overnight while still wrapped, then bring them to room temperature before assembling the cake and adding the frosting.

Notes

Ingredient notes:

Measure your ingredients with a digital scale for accuracy.
All cake ingredients must be at room temperature to properly emulsify.
Use freshly grated carrots rather than pre-shredded ones. Pre-packaged carrots are drier and thicker, resulting in a drier crumb.
For the frosting, it is important to use high-fat content cold cream cheese and mascarpone to achieve a stable, not runny frosting.

Technique notes:

Do not overmix once flour is added. Mix only until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Overmixing develops gluten, making the cake dense rather than soft and tender.
Baking these sponges takes 25 minutes in my oven. However, you should focus on the texture, not the time. Apply the toothpick test (it should come out clean) to avoid overbaking your cake; overbaking results in a dry texture.
Weigh your batter between pans if you want perfectly even layers. The same applies to frosting in between the layers.
Cream cheese frosting is very easy to overwhip. When whipping, stop as soon as the mixture reaches a fluffy consistency and forms stiff peaks. It won't get stiffer after this point. In fact, if you overbeat it, it will only get runnier and then break.
Cool layers completely before frosting. Even a slightly warm cake will melt the frosting, weaken the structure, and cause sliding during assembly.
For the carrot decoration, only use concentrated high-quality gel food coloring, e.g., Americolor; we don't want to ruin the frosting with cheap supermarket food coloring.

Nutrition