When it comes to carrot cakes, this recipe is the best I’ve ever tried, it makes the I’ve ever tried. You can forget about the others, this is the best carrot cake recipe, ever.
Guys, I am obsessed with this carrot cake. This past week my house has been filled with carrot cake as I’ve tried to perfect this recipe, and I’ve finally nailed it. Six cakes later, and here we are.
What makes the perfect carrot cake? I think it’s all about texture. The batter should be moist (a good carrot cake is made with vegetable oil, not butter) and then each mouthful should offer a different texture. This one has toasted walnuts, crushed pineapple, and my favourite, carrot shred.
So why do I like the carrot shred? Well, it acts like grated carrot, but it’s not. It’s got more texture, more bite and it works in so many different dishes. I use it in tacos, bolognese, cakes, slices, and I actually just eat it on it’s own in a salad for lunches and dinners.
It’s a coarser grated carrot, like mini sticks. You can pick it up from the fruit section of your supermarket – Just Veg make it – or may be able to do it using a cutting attachment on your blender. Otherwise plain grated is fine too. I’ve made this plenty of times with plain grated, and it’s equally as awesome.
Tips for making the best carrot cake recipe
- Patience! I had to make and bake over and over to make this one just right, but now that it’s done you don’t have to.
- Snappy carrots. Because we’re shredding or grating carrots, it means they don’t have to be the prettiest carrots at the supermarket. They can be odd-shaped, and even ugly, but you do want them to be fresh and snappy. Bendy carrots are on their way out, and not ideal for this recipe.
- Vegetable oil over olive oil. Please don’t use olive oil in this recipe. The flavour is too strong for this delicate cake. Vegetable oil creates the moisture without leaving a strong taste.
- Don’t forget to drain the pineapple. I will admit, that I’ve made this cake in a rush and just plopped the whole tin of pineapple in. Boy was that cake moist! Be sure to drain the pineapple before adding it to the mix.
The best carrot cake recipe
I decorated this cake for Easter, with some bunny ears that I picked up on Etsy (but you could make your own with cardboard and chopsticks) and some fresh flowers. How beautiful would this be on the table on Easter weekend?
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The BEST carrot cake recipe ever
Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
2 cups caster sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups shredded or grated carrot
1 can {432g} crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 cup walnuts
Cream cheese icing
125g butter at room temperature
250g cream cheese at room temperature
3 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC {fan forced} and line the base of two round cake {20cm} tins with baking paper.
2. Place walnuts onto a tray and toast in the oven for 5-10 minutes. Watch them because they go from toasted to burnt quickly. Once toasted, remove from oven and allow to cool, and then roughly chop.
3. In a large bowl, place the flour, bicarb soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir to combine.
4. In a jug or bowl, place the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and buttermilk and whisk until combined. I found it easier to just do this in the jug of my Thermomix, but mixing by hand also works.
5. Combine the wet and dry mixes, and stir to combine. Don’t over mix. Add in the carrot, drained pineapple, coconut, and chopped walnuts. Stir to gently combine.
6. Divide the mix evenly into the two cake tins. Place into the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cakes. Allow the cakes to cool slightly, before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. To make the icing, combine all of the ingredients into a bowl and using electric beaters, mix until smooth. Ice the cooled cakes and decorate.
