Janet’s Famous Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

The Inspiration…

My mom, Janet, makes the MOST DELICIOUS carrot cake. Everyone who tries it asks for the recipe. Today is your lucky day. I am giving you just that.

This carrot cake is moist, rich, decadent, and packed with 7 cups of carrots!! Yes, you read that correctly. Seven. Cups. Can we even call this a dessert? All those carrots have to negate some of the calories, right? Well - either way I would still take seconds because it is divine. The flavors of warm spices like cinnamon and ginger are complimented perfectly by a tangy sweet frosting. I prefer to make this recipe in cupcake form. This way, you can make some with nuts and some without and you won’t have to man the dessert station to cut individual pieces. Plus, cupcakes are just so cute!

This batter comes together pretty quickly. I like to shred the carrots using my food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, use a cheese grater and grate by hand. (You’ll earn an extra cupcake for doing all that manual labor!)

It is important when you mix the dry ingredients thoroughly to evenly distribute the baking soda. This will keep your carrots from turning green. Why would the carrots turn green, you ask? Well - I have a PhD in “googling”, so I put my research skills to the test. Apparently, carrots have pigments that are sensitive to changes in pH balance. Baking soda is alkaline (that’s a Google mission for another day) so when it comes into contact with the pigments, a chemical reaction occurs. Ironically, adding too much baking soda can cause them to turn green OR the baking soda simply was not evenly distributed throughout the batter. I don’t know about you, but I do not find green carrots appealing so take your time on that step. However, you’ll be glad to know that should some of your carrots turn green, the flavor of your cake will not be altered and it will still be delicious.

These cupcakes are delicious any time of year, but I think they are especially great around Easter. Maybe you could get your kids to leave one of these for the Easter Bunny. I mean, there are 7 cups of carrots in that batter…I think he’d appreciate it.

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Janet's Famous Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 18

Author: Julia Goodrich

Prep time: 10 MinInactive time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min

The BEST carrot cake you've ever tasted. It is moist and rich, pack with warm spices and topped with a decadent cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 7 cups carrots, shredded
• 1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

For the frosting

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

To prepare the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all dry ingredients together. (Mix baking soda in thoroughly. This will keep the carrots from turning green in the batter.)
3. Add the oil then one egg at a time. Mix well.
4. Add in the carrots (and nuts if you are using) and mix well.
5. Line 18 cupcake tins (or grease and flour a pan for a full cake)
6. Fill cupcake liners up 3/4 of the way. Bake for 35 minutes, turning the trays at the halfway point. If you are using a full-size cake pan, they may need to bake longer (start with 45 minutes). The cake is done when a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
7. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a baking rack to cool completely before frosting.

To prepare the frosting:

1. Beat all the frosting ingredients together until smooth and fluffy.
2. Frost cupcakes/cakes once they are completely cooled.
3. Top with chopped pecans (optional).

Nutrition Facts

Calories

468.31

Fat

23.98

Sat. Fat

7.19

Carbs

61.02

Fiber

2.90

Net carbs

58.12

Sugar

46.04

Protein

4.66

Sodium

400.93

Cholesterol

67.56

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.