Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

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This impressive carrot cake is covered in a decadent cream cheese icing. An irresistible treat to share with friends and family.

Bird's eye view of a carrot cake on a white plate with a slice taken out and sitting on a side plate next to it.

When I was living in Ohakune and running my dessert caravan, this Carrot Cake became a firm favourite on the menu. For those who don't know, Ohakune is the carrot growing capital of New Zealand. It even has a giant carrot as you drive into town!

The ingredients for carrot cake on a white marble bench.

This carrot cake is really scrummy. A great mix of spices in the cake and decadent cream cheese icing kept people coming back for more. The crushed pineapple isn't very obvious in the final product it but gives the cake a unique flavour and moist texture which keeps really well.

For something a little different, why not try the Carrot Cake Loaf on the website? It's designed to be eaten without icing, more like a banana bread.

A woman holds a pie on the cover of a cookbook titled Everyday Comfort Food. Text beside it promotes finding a recipe in the cookbook.

A piece of carrot cake sitting on a white plate with a fork on it with a whole cake on another plate in the background.

How to make Carrot Cake:

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan bake. Mix the brown sugar and eggs together then add the oil, vanilla, salt and milk and whisk to combine. Sift in the remaining dry ingredients and mix well.

Eggs and brown sugar in a stainless steel bowl on a white marble bench.

Flour being sifted into a stainless bowl on white bench.

Drain the juice from the canned pineapple and discard. Add the crushed pineapple to the bowl with the grated carrot. Mix to combine. Pour the cake mixture into a pre-lined cake tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Grated carrot, pineapple and cake mixture in a stainless steel bowl on a white marble bench.

Raw carrot cake mixture being poured into a lined baking tin.

Cool the cake in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. To make the icing, cream the softened butter before adding the softened cream cheese, vanilla and lemon zest. Mix together until fully combined in a light smooth icing.

Cream cheese icing in a stainless steel bowl on a white marble bench.

Add half the icing sugar at a time, mixing well after each addition. The icing is ready when it is smooth and white in colour. Ice the cooled cake then leave in the fridge before cutting to help firm up the icing.

A whole carrot cake with cream cheese icing sitting on a glass plate on top of a wooden board.

Recipe FAQs:

Can I mix up the spice in this carrot cake?

You sure can! I really love this combination of spices but if you don't like nutmeg or all spice, feel free to leave them out or swap them.

What size cake tin should I use?

My cake tin is 22cm and works really well for this recipe.

Can I add nuts to this carrot cake?

Absolutely. A lot of people like walnuts in their carrot cake. I sometimes add half a cup of chopped walnuts at the same stage as the carrot and pineapple. It's important to do this after the dry ingredients have been combined otherwise you can end up with flour in the nooks of the walnuts.

Whey did my cake take more/less time to cook that the recipe says?

As all ovens run at slightly different temperatures, be sure to keep an eye on your cake and leave it in the oven until a skewer comes out clean. This is a moist cake, just keep cooking until it's done.

Storage:

Store you carrot cake an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.

This carrot cake can also be frozen, un-iced in the freezer. Wrap well in cling-film to prevent freezer burn. Allow to defrost completely before icing.

Top tips:

A lovely addition to this cake is walnuts. As per the FAQ above, it's important to add the walnuts once the dry ingredients have been combined to prevent flour getting stuck in the nooks of the walnuts. You can also decorate the top of the cake with chopped walnuts.

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