Ultimate Carrot Cake

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 1 lb carrot, grated
• 4 extra large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cups canola oil
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 large orange, zest of, finely grated
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cups walnuts or 1 1/4 cups shredded coconut
• 1 cup raisins or 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
• 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract (optional)
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Recipe

• 1 prepare muffin tins with papers (about 48 regular cupcakes) or two 9-inch round cake pans (2 inch sides) with parchment and oil.
• 2 preheat oven to 350 degrees f.
• 3 coarsely grate the carrots in a food processor using the grater attachment.
• 4 chop them into finer pieces with the medal blade attachment in the food processor, if you want the texture of the cake a little bit finer.
• 5 mix together the eggs, sugar, oil, brown sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest.
• 6 mix together all of the dry ingredients in a bowl with a whisk.
• 7 add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.
• 8 add the finely chopped carrots, walnuts (or coconut), and raisins (or dried cherries).
• 9 pour the batter into the prepared pans or scoop into cupcake papers (fill 3/4 full).
• 10 bake cupcakes for about 18-25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
• 11 bake 9-inch cakes for about 35-40 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
• 12 cool in pan(s) on wire rack for 10-15 minutes.
• 13 make frosting by combining all frosting ingredients and beating well, until fluffy.
• 14 note: if you like lots of frosting, double this recipe, but you'll have some left over, even if you are generous with it while frosting the cake. but it's delicious on everything!
• 15 to assemble the cake, remove from pan(s) and peel off the parchment paper from the bottom, place on cardboard rounds.
• 16 with a thin serrated knife slice off the very top of the cake layer, using a sawing motion, to level the tops, if desired.
• 17 cut the cake layers into 2 equal layers. slide the layers onto a cardboard round or any other flat surface.
• 18 using an offset spatula spread about 1½ cups of the frosting evenly over the surface of the first layer.
• 19 top with the next layer and repeat for the rest of the layers.
• 20 place about 2 cups of the icing on the top of the cake and spread evenly.
• 21 spread the icing onto the sides of the cake.
• 22 using the spatula, create swirls in the frosting on the cake. this cream cheese frosting is very soft so you won’t want to try for anything too exacting.
• 23 press additional shredded coconut onto the sides of this cake, as a garnish, if desired.