Moist Carrot Cake Recipe | Classic Carrot Cake | Christmas Cakes Recipes

Christmas is nearing by and the holiday season begins in just few days. All the public places like shopping malls etc have been already decorated with the Christmas tree and looks so festive that one would feel that the holiday season has already begun.I love the feel of the festive season especially during the Christmas and New year.

Christmas is not complete without indulging on sweet treats like Plum Cake, Cookies, Ginger Bread etc.Its been a while I have posted any Cake recipe in my blog- the reason simply is that my little one keeps me on my toes all day and I hardly get any time for my self. Though I bake simple cakes occasionally but I was not able to click and post them in my blog.

Coming to today's post - Carrot Cake, I have prepared it last year for my anniversary but I could not post it and was lying in my drafts.When I was clearing off my drafts recently this Carrot cake sought my attention to get posted this year.

I have followed the recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book-"BAKING from my home to yours" and I must say this is one of the best carrot cake I have tasted.The recipe is quite simple with the easily available ingredients.I have made very few changes to the original to suit my requirements, but I mentioned a few in my notes in case if you want to follow the original recipe to the T.

Carrot Cake is usually frosted with Cream cheese and it makes the cake more delectable.But we do not prefer a frosting for our cakes and hence I made it plain and as I was doing it for an occasion I topped it with glazed carrot ribbons and icing sugar for a festive look.I must warn you that the glazed carrot ribbons topping will reduce the shelf life and hence I suggest you to either refrigerate the cake or avoid using it and instead go for cream cheese frosting.

Check out other festive Cakes recipes here:

• Chocolate Brownies
• Chocolate Cherry Cake with Chocolate Ganache Icing
• Checkered Cake
• Christmas Fruit Cake | Kerala Plum Cake
• Dorie's Perfect Vanilla Cake with Blueberry Filling
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake-Step wise recipe
• Zebra Cake with Zebra Fondant Icing
• Eggless-Dates Cake
• Eggless Marble Cake
• Eggless Sponge Gateau with Strawberry Cream Icing

Carrot Cake Recipe:

Yields one 7" Bundt Pan | Recipe Source: Dorie Greenspan

Prep time:20 mins | Cooking time 30-40 mins | Total time: 1 hr

Category:Cakes/Baking

Ingredients:

1 cup All purpose flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1 1/2 cup peeled and grated Carrots

1/2 cup chopped Walnuts or Pecans

1/4 cup plump Raisins/Cranberries

2 large Eggs

1/2 cup Oil

1 cup Sugar

for glazed carrots:

1 Carrot

2-3 tbsp Sugar

Icing sugar, to decorate

Method:

• Peel and grate 3 carrots in a food processor or grater and keep it ready.

• In a bowl,stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, and raisins/cranberries.
• Preheat oven to 180 deg C or 350 deg F.
• Grease a 7" Bundt Pan or 8" square/round pan with oil and flour the insides and tap the excess and keep it ready.

• Whisk together the flour,baking powder,baking soda, cinnamon powder and salt or you can even sieve it a couple of times to get a uniform mix.

• Beat sugar and oil together on medium speed in your stand mixer or by using a hand mixer in a large bowl until the mixture turns smooth.

• Add eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother.

• Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture,mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear.Gently mix in the carrots, walnuts and raisin/cranberry mixture.

• Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake about for 30-35 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

• Let the pan cool for 10-15 mins.Run a sharp knife around the edges and slowly invert the cake on to a rack and let it cool completely.

• for glazed Carrots- Using a sharp peeler,peel the carrot into thin ribbons and keep it.In a pan add the carrot ribbons and sugar and mix it gently and cook until the sugar melts and coats all the carrots.Let it cool and decorate them over the carrot cake.Sieve icing sugar on top of the cake.

Cream Cheese Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 ounces/ 115 gms Cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tbsp unsalted Butter,at room temperature

3/4 - 1 cup Icing sugar

1 tsp Lemon juice or 1/4 tsp Lemon extract or 1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method:

• In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.
• Gradually add sugar and beat until it is velvety smooth.
• Beat in lemon juice/extract or vanilla essence.

To decorate:

• Use an offset spatula or a spoon and frost the sides and top of the cake as you wish.You can even cut the cake into two layer and frost the center layer too.
• Refrigerate the cake for 30 mins,just to set the frosting before serving.

Notes:

1. Dorie mentioned the addition of 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut in the recipe along with carrots.But I did not add it.
2. Also she mentioned lemon extract or juice for the cream cheese frosting but I mentioned vanilla essence for your convenience.
3. The glazed carrots are completely my creation.As I prepared this cake for a celebration wanted to decorate with something as we don't prefer the frosting always.But the addition of glazed carrots reduce the shelf life, so please keep it in mind.It is completely optional, the cake tastes good just like that or with cream cheese topping.

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