This cake recipe conjures memories! It’s the first cake recipe I developed. I still remember presenting a homemade carrot cake at a family Christmas gathering many years ago. It was an absolutely, mouth-wateringly tender and moist, perfectly spiced cake, with scrumptious surprises of pineapple, pecans, and plump raisins greeting the palate in each bite. The fluffy Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting put my senses over the top.
Unfortunately, it sliced about as well as an avalanche. Crumbs of deliciousness scattered over my dessert plate in somewhat of a mound. The sight could have been a symbol of my crumbled carrot cake dreams, but they were so darn yummy!!! The fact that an ice cream scoop was probably the most practical way to serve the cake only fueled my desire to perfect the structural integrity of this flavor masterpiece.
Cake is a delicate balance, with ingredients that often pull double duty – affecting both taste and texture, structure and moisture, etc. But if a cake you otherwise love is crumbling, consider increasing eggs, which are a binding agent. Consider adjusting the amount of milk or buttermilk, which can add structure, in addition to moisture and tenderness. This cake is now in perfect balance, so give it a try!
Prepare to Bake!
Remember to always follow the basics of mise en place. Mise en place is a fancy French term for thorough preparation before baking (or cooking). Read the full recipe to make sure you have the ingredients, supplies, and time to bake the recipe. Then, prep and measure the ingredients and have all of your needed supplies set out.
Make the Batter
To get started, mix sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in an electric mixer until smooth and light yellow.
In a small separate bowl, stir together raisins, pecans, and 1 tablespoon of flour until the raisins and pecans are thoroughly coated.
Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg) in yet another bowl.
Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Fold in grated carrots, raisins, pecans, and drained crushed pineapple just until combined. Over mixing can cause cake to become gummy.
Bake the Cakes
Pour batter evenly into three 9 inch cake pans, prepared with wax paper rounds and shortening. For more information, check out my post on prepping cake layer pans.
A food scale is very helpful to weigh each cake pan of batter to make sure each pan contains the same amount of batter. If you don’t have a food scale, try spreading the batter into each pan and then inserting the handle of a spoon directly into the batter. Make sure the batter comes to the same height in each pan.
The batter needs to be distributed close to evenly between pans to make sure each cake layer bakes at the same rate.
Remove the Cakes
Bake the cakes at 350 °F for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. In case your oven runs hot, start checking for doneness at about 27 minutes. Overbaking can lead to a dry cake! After removing the cakes from the oven, quickly (so the knife doesn’t melt) run a plastic knife around the edges of the cake to gently free it from the sides of the pan. While the cake is still warm or hot, invert each layer onto a sheet of parchment paper and peel off waxed paper rounds. Stack the layers and parchment and cover with a cake carrier lid to hold in the moisture. Once the cake reaches room temperature, refrigerate until ready to frost.
Frost and Finish
Prepare Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting and frost your Loaded Carrot Cake. For best results, the cake layers should be fresh-from-the-refrigerator cold. This makes the layers much easier to handle without cracking or breaking! Garnish with Southern Living’s Candied Carrot Curls if you’d like. And ENJOY!
Loaded Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup oil (vegetable, corn, or canola)
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour, +1 tablespoon (divided)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 2½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup raisins
- ¾ cup roughly chopped pecans
- 3½ cups grated carrots
- ½ cup crushed pineapple, drained
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 8 ounce packages cream cheese
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Candied Carrot Curls
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 carrot
Instructions
- Combine sugar, eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix on medium speed with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes or until the mixture is light yellow.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl stir together raisins, pecans, and 1 tablespoon of flour until the raisins and pecans are thoroughly coated.
- In a separate bowl, thoroughly combine remaining flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
- Add flour and spice mixture to egg mixture and mix on low speed until fully incorporated.
- By hand, fold raisins, pecans, carrots, and pineapple into batter just until combined. Do not overmix.
- Pour batter into three 9 inch layer pans that have been prepared with wax paper rounds and shortening.
- Bake at 350 °F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- While the cake is still hot, run a plastic knife around the outer rim of the cake pan to free the cakes.
- While still hot or warm, invert each cake layer onto a plate covered with a square of parchment paper. Cut off any dome to make a level layer. Carefully remove waxed paper. Stack layers on top of each other with only a fresh sheet of parchment between layers. Cover with a cake carrier lid until room temperature.
- Refrigerate until cool. Frost with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting using an offset frosting spatula.
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat sugar and cream cheese with whisk attachment in an electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Very slowly, pour in whipping cream and beat on medium/high until thickened to ideal frosting consistency. Take care to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula often throughout the process of adding the whipping cream to ensure all of the bits of cream cheese stuck to the bottom of the bowl get incorporated. You will not be able to incorporate these bits of cream cheese at the end of the whipped process.
Candied Carrot Curls
- If desired, top with candied carrot curls just before serving. I usually make about a half recipe of the simple syrup and as many curls as I get out of one carrot. I find it's best to choose a carrot that is close to the same diameter from top to bottom to get strips that look fairly uniform. Find the full recipe here: Southern Living's Candied Carrot Curls
