The Ultimate Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Before I opened my cafe, I scoured hundreds of cookbooks and tested countless recipes to perfect the ultimate carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I knew if I had just one dessert on my menu, it had to be the best ever carrot cake, and it was. This recipe put my little Tastebuds Cafe on the map.
For more of my secret recipes from Tastebuds Cafe, you can check out my first cookbook The Dairy Gourmet.
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
For Cake:
1 ½ cups grated carrots
1 ½ cups flour
¾ cups sugar
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup shredded coconut
½ cup crushed pineapple, unsweetened and drained
Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 oz. cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 ½ tbsp.unsalted butter softened at room temperature
¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp. lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a separate bowl, grate the carrots and set aside.
In a bowl of your mixer fitted with paddle attachment, sift the flour and add the sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. On low speed, add the oil, vanilla, and eggs one at a time. Blend well. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the carrots, nuts, coconut and pineapple, making sure all ingredients are well combined.
In a well-greased muffin pan, spoon out the carrot cake batter ¾ of the way up. Bake for about 20 minutes or until center comes out clean.
While carrot muffins are baking prepare the cream cheese frosting. In a mixing bowl fitted with paddle attachment, add softened cream cheese, butter and confectioners’ sugar. Blend on medium-high speed until creamy and smooth. Add vanilla and lemon juice and blend well. Set aside until you are ready to frost the muffins.
After muffins have cooled completely, generously frost the top of the muffins with cream cheese frosting. For a nice garnish, grate extra carrot on top of frosting.
