carrot cake with maple-cream cheese frosting
Me? I made cupcakes, carrot cupcakes to be specific because carrot cake is Alice’s favorite. But do you know what I have come to realize about people who say their favorite cake is carrot cake? It’s really the cream cheese frosting (and perhaps the orange and green carrots eloquently piped on top) that they love. Or at least that’s the case with Alex.
Nevertheless, I actually have a killer recipe for carrot cake and hadn’t used it in years, which means that you haven’t been privy to it yet, and that’s not fair, is it? So without further ado, here’s the carrot cake I always fall back on. It’s incredibly moist and light and forgiving whether you make it with or without nuts and raisins or extra spices, and a great little recipe to tuck away in your files come January when the entire world is on a diet but somehow thinks that three cups of grated carrots makes these babies “health” food. I won’t tell them if you don’t.
One year ago: Pear Crisps with Vanilla Brown Butter, Chocolate Pretzel Cookies
Two years ago: Dukkah-Crusted Chicken Skewers, Pecan Squares
Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
I like to grate the carrots by hand — actually, that’s a lie, I don’t enjoy it one bit — because I want it very finely grated for a soft batter. The food processor works, too, but the pieces are a bit thicker.
Makes 24 cupcakes (or one two-layer cake, instructions at end)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots
1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 350&176;F.
Line 24 cupcake molds with papers, or butter and flour them.
Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins, if using them. Divide batter among cupcake molds, filling 3/4 of each.
Bake cupcakes 14 to 18 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Let cool in pans for five minutes or so, then transfer cakes to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before icing them.
To make a carrot layer cake: Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans instead of cupcake molds. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Butter and flour paper; tap out excess flour. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, and bake the layers for about 40 minutes each, or until a tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks. Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy. Chill the frosting for 10 to 20 minutes, until it has set up enough to spread smoothly.
The spazzy star decorations were created by putting the maple cream cheese frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and dolloping away. An extra layer of dollops were piped nearer to the center, to create a domed effect.
To assemble a carrot layer cake, frost the top of one cake, place the other cake on top. Frost the sides and top, swirling decoratively. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes to set up frosting.
For the layer cake scenario, you will probably have a bit of leftover frosting, which you can tint and use for decorating, or save to smear on gingersnaps. What, you don’t do that too?
Those look totally lovely! And my favorite part of carrot cake really is the cream cheese frosting. Whenever I make it there is always extra that ends up hidden in the fridge, away from my husbands eyes and suggestions for use. Oh, and the piped dollops are wicked cute!
For those of us who are decoration challenged, can you do a post on how to frost/decorate beautifully, including tips on useful implements? BTW, I make your pumpkin muffins all the time – they are great.
My husband is going to love me in a couple of weeks when I make this for his birthday! And you’re dead on about the frosting observation–he said straight up the other day that he’d go with a pumpkin spice cake, a regular spice cake, a carrot cake, or any kind of cake, really, just as long as it had cream cheese frosting on it. This also gives me an excuse to top up our supply of the fancy maple syrup…
Whenever I get married, my groom’s cake (yeah… in Texas, we have a cake for the guy) will be a carrot cake. And it’s because of the cream cheese frosting. Been on a baking bender lately, so this will be filed away for Christmas, probably. Can’t wait to try them out, though.
Oh man! Carrot cake is my favorite! Zucchini bread right after :) I guess I’m just a fan of vegetables baked in bread products! Can’t wait to try these out.
I need to figure out if I can make Zucchini bread cupcakes….there’s a nice idea :)
This looks fantastic! If only I had time in my busy holiday baking schedule for some of these. I could use one right about now!
oh yum!! i haven’t had a good carrot cake in eons — this looks awesome and i like dollops of the frosting – very pretty!
Mouth watering, as usual!
Yeah! I am ALL about the cream cheese icing.
ohhh… carrot cake is my favorite too. Well, it’s tied with red velvet cake. yum!!
I have a question and this post seems as good a place as any to ask it. What do you think about all the healthy folks saying things like “replace your oil in baked goods with plain yogurt. No one will know the difference!” Is that true or will I totally absolutely one hundred percent notice the difference?
So, my favorite part of carrot cake is the pineapple…how do you think that would go in here?
Thanks!
Joelle
Hi Janssen — First, I would be wary of assuming that yogurt can always replace oil seamlessly, as it may play out differently in different recipes. It does work in general, but the cake dries out much more quickly than it would with oil.
Nevertheless, taking some of the fat out of a cake isn’t necessarily a *bad* thing, but it is more about an approach to dieting that follows a low-fat formula. Personally, I’m more in the “eat a smaller slice” or “eat a half a slice” camp than the “make cake healthier” camp, but I’m also not in the practice of making diet recommendations. Everyone has to do what works best for them.
Joelle — Some people add 1 (8 ounce) can crushed of pineapple, drained to their cakes. I haven’t tested it with this recipe but see no reason it wouldn’t work.
Ok, more questions.
Can vegetable oil be substituted for the canola since that’s what I have (for another cake recipe) and I want to make this Right Now?
If I don’t have a stand mixer will a hand mixer do? or is there that big a difference?
And I’m enchanted with the pineapple idea. Would you just add the pineapple without tweaking anything else?
Thank you and yum! What an excellent use for the CSA carrots that have taken up residency in my fridge!
Whoa, these are so beautiful. Really elegant and perfect. Can’t wait to try!
oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. These look soooo fantastic. I never tried carrot cake or cupcake – can you belive it??? But these look too good. I LOVE how you did the frosting. Gorgeous!
Those cupcakes look heavenly! I must try adding maple syrup to my frosting when I bake my next batch of cupcakes…
Lovely Post,
Hayley
Mmmmmm … maple cream cheese … curse working for a company that doesn’t have a kitchen stocked with the ingredients and equipment I need to satisfy an immediate craving while on the clock. (And we just had a bake sale today, too – what is my thing about sweets today….)
Love the dollops. And I’m a maple fiend. So I will try this frosting! Thanks.
Carrot cake is my very favorite of all cakes. I have a killer recipe too that calls for sweet local heirloom carrots and a mixture of dried fruits so the flavors are a little more complex than normal. But, yes, I’m convinced it’s all about the cream cheese frosting. Much like pumpkin cupcakes…warm spices somehow taste so much better with that frosting. :)
My recipe is here, btw: http://straightfromthefarm.wordpress.com/2007/09/27/whats-up-doc/
super thin and tiny carrot bits. i’m totally digging it deb! i made carrot pancakes a while back and i found my grated carrots were just too much. now i know that i can use the tiny side of the cheese grater. DUH! and thanks for the maple cream cheese recipe too… you’re a dream boat!
I love carrot cake, not just because of the cream cheese frosting. I do have a couple of caveats 1) the cake MUST have nuts, walnuts are HIGHLY preffered and 2) NO raisins. I like raisins, but the do not belong in carrot cake.
Mmm, carrot cake is one of my faves, thanks for sharing the recipe ;) I like to soak my carrots for about 20 minutes in 1 cup sugar before adding the mixture into the batter. It makes for a super moist carrot and I like to think it adds more carrot flavor. I wonder if anyone else does this?
err “super moist cake” (not carrot)
You are out of control with your cute icing these days! Not to mention the leaf garland on your pie. Cute, cute, cute.
I could eat a tire covered in cream cheese frosting!
Creamcheese is my favorite frosting and I can just imagine how much better it tastes with maple syrup. Have you ever tried using Grade B maple syrup? Even more mapley flavour:-)
Oh my-I think I just stumbled upon something great! My mother’s birthday in on Christmas and my aunt and I have been struggling with thinking of a birthday cake to make her. She loves carrot cake and I think cupcakes would be such a cute alternative-definitely bookmarking this recipe!
Love the update on a retro favorite. I’ve added maple syrup to cream cheese frosting before and had trouble keeping the frosting pipable (is that even a word?) so I think I’ll have to try your recipe and see what I can learn.
I love these! I will definitely make them and report back :D
Yuuuum! Have you tried this with mascarpone frosting? I recently made a carrot cake with a lemon zest-flavored mascarpone frosting it was untraditionally divine. Maple cream cheese sounds like it could be dangerously good.
Oh my!!! Those look delicious!!! and they look so pretty too!! Can’t wait to try them :)
So. Damn. Cute.
Oh these little treasures were divine! Oh God did I enjoy all THREE that I had. Mmmmmm good.
Maple cream cheese frosting!? I HAVE to try that!
Janssen/Deb – first I was laughing at Deb’s health food reference and then I noticed the question about substituting for oil. I usually sub half the oil with unsweetened applesauce and have learned from experience that it’s worth straining out the measured amount to get rid of extra liquid. While I agree with Deb that I’d rather be restrained and eat the real thing, if cutting fat is important to you, don’t take it ALL away. Even Cooking Light recipes retain some butter or oil.
Yogurt (again either strained or Greek style) is a better substitute for sour cream in my experience.
I love the maple touch in the icing:)
These could be some of my favorite pictures you’ve put up. The detail of the icing and the contrast of colors. Really beautiful. And anything to get us to eat our veggies, right?
Love your blog! The pictures are stunning. We just started a new food blog too. It’s pretty fun.
I made this once, and I was SO. ALLERGIC. Ugh.
Thank you for releasing this recipe from the dark shadows of your recipe box. It looks delish!
These are beautiful! The recipe itself sounds wonderful, but the little dribbles of frosting look cute like that too!
Carrot Cake is my most favorite cake recipe. Yum!
Yum! I would LOVE those! What grabbed me though, was how you did the frosting. That looks very attractive and so much better than the usual smear-the-icing-on-with-a-spatula look! I’ll have to remember that! I think you also had done some cupcakes with the frosting piped on as roses. So beautiful! Amazing how something as simple as a cupcake can be turned into a WOW!
Damn! A week late and a carrot cake short! My son’s birthday was just last week and carrot cake is his favorite…so I made him a chocolate cake. What a Mom, huh? My carrot cake recipe is just okay, and I didn’t want to have to eat the rest of it (forever) because he would only eat one piece or two under duress. If I had had this recipe then..his hearts desire would have been fulfilled, mine too. Damn!
Is there really such a thing as eloquent piping? :)
I love carrot cake – the cake and the frosting! This version with maple sounds divine. I actually think my recipe sounds better, though – it has pineapple in it and a few other secrets – from the Fiddlehead Cookbook.
I have a Canadian husband who loves carrot cake. I think this will make the perfect birthday treat for him this January! Thanks!
Amy
Nomnomnom. I am totally going to try baking something for the first time since…um…that bake sale three years ago? (In my defense, the whole deal WAS homemade, so I was very proud.)
But I’m thinking, I really love carrot cake frosting. And while Smitten Kitchen’s samples are lovely, I think they need more frosting.
Can you layer them like a cake?
I mean, could you cut the cupcake part in half and putting a layer of frosting in between? I bet you could, though the cupcake wrapper would get messed up.
Whatever, I’m going to try. Family Christmas dinner, here I come!!
I totally LOVE the way you piped the stars on top of the cupcakes, and will be stealing that idea for many cupcakes in future. Thanks!
I like the cake, but I don’t think I would like it as much without the frosting. Same goes fro zucchini bread/cake. However, I do eat red velvet only for the frosting. Because, you know, cream cheese icing rocks! I had 2 cakes at my wedding because I couldn’t make up my mind. Want to know what they were? Carrot cake torte (more frosting) and red velvet.
I’m in college right now, so you’re describing EXACTLY what I’m going through right now, with studying and all that – it’s quite stressful!!! :-(
Gorrrrgeous carrot cake!!
These look amazing! I make a carrot cake with coconut and pineapple that adds an additional depth and texture. I’m going to try this recipe because of the maple syrup. We love maple syrup here in Canada!
they look absolutly perfect!! *_*
Carrot cake is one of my favorites as well and the creme cheese frosting definitely ads to the liking! I love the idea of making muffins out of the mixture. Great for parties.
About how many carrots do you use to grate 3 cups worth?
Funny that you mention it. It will depend a bit on how coarsely you grate the carrots. Thicker gratings from bigger holes, you might only need three large ones. Thinner gratings like mine, I needed 5 big carrots.
this is my dads favorite cake too! I think I know what i’ll be making him for christmas this year!
These are the. cutest.
Seems like you’re a good friend. Lucky Alice.
It would be great to see more recipes for cakes which rely on vegetables as a source of moisture and texture, e.g., courgettes (zucchini), etc. Carrot cake is no longer considered counter-intuitive but there must be lots of other exciting possibilities out there.
Nice!! Just curious, do you add the raisins and walnuts?
With 3 cups of carrots, there is a healthy factor that can’t be denied! :)
If anyone’s interested, I have here a post for the carrot-zucchini-yogurt (+molasses+wheat germ) muffins I just made. Now these are seriously healthy, but taste delicious! They won’t do when you’re craving these gorgeous carrot cake cupcakes, but are spot on for a yummy breakfast treat!
This is very similar to my carrot cake recipe. Like many of the other commenters, I also add pineapples and sub some of the oil for applesauce.
On an unrelated note, Deb, at some point, would you please put up a list of your top five places to eat in the city? People who cook well generally eat well, whether at restaurants or at home, and I am sure that you and Alex find great restaurants. We’re going up to visit my brother during Christmas and he isn’t much of a gourmand, so I’m trying to seek out yummy places to eat while we’re there. :)
I love carrot cake and I have found that if you process the carrots with the steel blade in the food processor it works out really well. I used to grate them by hand, then in the processor but one day I thought I would try to cut them into chunks and grind them up and it worked really well. Sometimes lazy is a good thing.
Hi Akila — I really don’t get into restaurant recommendations because what I like and what other people like may not be the same. I am also not an avid restaurant-goer. We check out great places from time to time, but in no way make a science of getting to them and I don’t really analyze the meals–I just enjoy them.
I could live on carrot cake… yummy… And these are decorated so beautifully!
I love the slightly different take on the cream cheese frosting. As a carrot cake devotee, I’ve got to try this!
I absolutely love everything you make! And these cupcakes are no different, they look just gorgeous and the piped topping is so cute!
I read that as “carrot cake with nipple-cream frosting.” And then I saw the pictures, and I thought, “Well, they do kinda look like nipples…” then I reread the title. >_<
You are KillingMe/TotallyAwesome!
I know we don’t know each other, but I have to ask, did you read my mind?
And yes, I LOVE carrot cake and it is mostly due to the frosting. And did I mention I love maple. Just bought some Vermont maple syrup from Formaggio.
Too funny…I saw “nipple cream” as well. Which is decidedly inappropriate for the holiday season and for these cupcake, which look scrumptious!
Ember – OMG I did the same thing! Deb, did you do that on purpose? A little play on words/photo for us? You are clever :-)
Re: pineapple. One Christmas break during college I worked at my town’s country club working all the holiday banquets – ugh – but the perk was that I got to pick the pastry chef’s brain and write down some of her recipes. She put crushed pineapple in EVERYTHING where oil would be – specifically a 1/4 cup of it in her amazing carrot cake and German chocolate cake. I was stunned. I don’t even like pineapple on its own that much, but it adds a ton of moistness without the flavor becoming overbearing. One of the previous posters mentioned it giving extra texture as well – so true. If you hear it from a pastry chef, you know it’s a good tip.
WOW!! I just discovered your blog via Digg. The photos are gorgeous. I love those little spiffs of maple cream cheese on top of your cupcakes. Can’t wait to try the recipe, thank you for sharing it.
RE: pineapple – There is a great cake that I make for my daughter’s birthday called Hummingbird Cake. Originally out of Southern Living (I think) it is similar to a Carrot Cake, but made with bananas and pineapple – perfect for a toddler. And of course, the cream cheese frosting makes it even more delicious.
Those cupcakes look so tasty … I covet them. I truly do. I like the idea of a maple cream cheese frosting. I had never, I am ashamed to admit, considered it. Now I am antsy to taste it.
These look delicious – and the cream cheese frosting is the best!
Love how your frosted the cupcakes. Very cupcake-chic.
How about for a cream cheese frosting purist–do you have a favorite recipe without the maple syrup?
You can actually just skip the maple syrup or you can replace it with a quarter-cup of powdered sugar. Miraculously, all methods work. If you skip the maple syrup, you shouldn’t need to chill the frosting to make it spreadable.
I love your frosting techniques on the cupcakes, Deb! Gorgeous! Oh, and thanks for not including the walnuts and raisins in the cupcakes. I’ve never understood why people feel the need to mess with a good thing like silky carrot cake batter by throwing in all that other junk. About the only add-ins I ever like in my baked goods are chocolate ones. :)
LOVE your Blog! The recipes & photos are equally amazing! How do you do that? Make food look so EXCITING?! Wow! Just WOW!
One little thing for you to try….my mom used to cater weddings and people would call her all the time to make carrot cake for them. We used to laugh when they’d add: “I *HATED* Carrot Cake until I had yours….how do you make it so moist!” Well, she’s now telling her secret so I figure I can too…..
THE SECRET IS: Boiling/steaming the carrots until they are cooked BEFORE adding them to the cake mixture (drain them first of course). The reason this is important is that it doesn’t pull the moisture from the other ingredients to cook them. I swear it makes a HUGE difference! Try it & tell me what you think!
Keep up the great work!!
~Melanie
What perfect timing! There was a work potluck today so we made these last night. For some reason, cakes made with oil instead of butter never turn out right for me. It’s like the oil never gets absorbed and they look very shiny and greasy and leave a heavy taste in my mouth. I made the Ina Garten Lemon-Blueberry cake from a while back and had to toss it because it was such an oily mess, which made me so sad because of all the fantastic reviews. Therefore, I was nervous to try these and used only 3/4 cup of oil with 1/2 cup of applesauce. They were still very shiny, but after frosting and some time in the refrigerator they turned out quite delicious. Co-workers loved them. Thank you!
These look fabulous!!
How did you know I really wanted to make carrot cake? Thanks!
These look fabulous. Would you be able to upload a photo of carrots to smug mug for me? I found it in your flickr account. It is called “Nugget Carrots”, in the greenmarkets section of the eats collection. Thanks!
your blog is very good…
Lecia – thank you for the reference to a cookbook in my cupboard that I rarely use! I immediately found the recipe and think the frosting looks inviting! I have both maple syrup and orange marmalade – Oh, what’s a poor woman to do? MAKE BOTH! And try them on pumpkin muffins too!
do you think this would work as a carrot bread?
I am sure it would work. It might be a little on the light side for a “bread”-style loaf though less so if you include the dried fruit and nuts.
I want these. Now. And I am totally one of those people who just really love the cream cheese frosting. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh my goodness, I am drooling! Carrot cake is absolutely my favorite, and with carrot cupcakes you do get even more cream-cheese-frosting-goodness (Maple nonetheless!) with every bite. I do have one question: I would love to post about these cupcakes on my parenting blog (with a link to the recipe here, naturally) – could I possibly use a photo or two to tempt my readers? Regardless, I can’t wait to make them myself. Thank you so much.
Deb~
I have been following this website daily for several months and have printed off certain recipes that have created a pile 3′ tall in my office corner. Yesterday, being snow bound, I took the plunge and made your carrot cake cupcakes. Beyond wonderful. I am now even more addicted to your site and vow to start in on testing recipes from that 3′ pile. Do you have any suggestions for Christmas dessert? Something chocolate. Something with mousse? Thank You!
these are definately going on my “to make” list. love how orange they are!
Wow. Those carrot cake cupcakes look so delicious. I think I’ll have to try them out.
oooh that maple frosting looks good enough to make- and eat- all on its own.
I made this as an 8-inch layer cake this weekend, and it was a big hit at a party. Very moist and a lovely texture. I particularly like the addition of the maple syrup to the cream cheese frosting. I did find that I had to bake it longer than specified, but that’s probably because I used smaller pans. It did take about 5 large carrots to get 3 cups using the small holes on my grater (and a lot of elbow grease) :-) I will definitely make this one again. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Wonderful recipe! I’m going to make them as Christmas presents for my friends :D
I’d love to ask just a couple of things, if you don’t mind, as I’m not American and get all confused with the US measurements. In the frosting recipe, you quoted “Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened”. Is 8 ounce the total weight of the 2 packages, or the weight of one package so total = 16 oz?
And how much is 1 1/4 cups of canola oil? I can easily convert from volume measurements of all kinds to milliliters, but when it comes to cups I’m at a total loss. I don’t even know what a US measure cup looks like ;__;
Thanks for your attention!
i made these cupcakes this weekend for our holiday party. they were a hit! the frosting is incredible!
Kudos! I made this as the 9″ layer cake this past weekend and it was amazing. I can’t believe the texture – so light. The best carrot cake ever.
When I saw these I knew I had to try them! They were DELICIOUS! I took them into work at my school and they all gone by morning recess – they received rave reviews! Thanks for sharing!
I have all these ingredients in my pantry right NOW! uh oh. Dare I???
these look delicious! I can’t wait to try them.
Claudia- it is 16 ounces total of cream cheese. For the canola oil 1 cup equals 8 ounces- I’m not sure what that is in milliliters though. Hope that helps.
>Rachelle
thank you very much, it helped a lot :)
Hi Deb! I made a layer cake out of this recipe late last night. I didn’t have enough carrots so I bulked it up with shredded zucchini. Used half dark brown sugar, half melted butter (but only 1 cup total fat) and I toasted and finely chopped (almost ground) the nuts. Okay, so I didn’t really make this recipe, but mine is adapted from this one, so I thought I’d report it because the spices really are what is so good about your recipe and they made mine all the better.
I only had the lighter cream cheese and it is way too soft for a frosting..short story: I added some butterscotch fudge to fix it and it didn’t really work as well as I had hoped but it was outstanding in flavor. I will use it next time instead of my grade A maple which was indistinguishable. So..thanks for sharing your recipe.
Just made these tasty cupcakes today and they were fabulous. Of course the frosting stole the show, but that’s to be expected, I think. Especially from me! Great recipe – thanks so much for sharing. Oh, and I was doing great with the hand-grating of the carrots until I got to about 1 1/2 cups and then I was so ready to be done!
I made this as a 9×13 sheet cake. Wow! The cake was so moist and flavorful. The last time I had carrot cake was like, when I was really little. That cake was chunky and what I would term “weird.” I grated the carrots by hand though and had almost a carrot puree. I think it really made a difference (though I cut my finger really badly on the grater). My boyfriend is also really impressed.
My only complaint is that I can’t really taste the maple in the frosting. I added 1/2 cup because I couldn’t taste it, and I still can’t really. I think the cream cheese just overpowers it or something. Still, very very good!
Made this yesterday; fabulous! I poured the batter into our bundt pan, then we just cut off slices and spooned frosting over. Me, my husband, and our 16-month-old all loved it! (We also couldn’t really taste the maple, so next time we’ll just go without, but that didn’t stop us from having seconds!)
Could be the best carrot cake recipe I’ve tried Cupcakes are moist and delicious without being oily. Be sure to finely grate the carrots as recommended; it makes a huge difference in texture and evenly distributed flavor. I had extra maple cream cheese frosting, so saved and used a week later on vanilla cupcakes – excellent!
Can I use this recipe with the oversized Wilton cupcake pan?
I have never used it. I don’t see why not. You’ll, of course, get fewer cupcakes and have to bake them longer…
I just made these cupcakes, although no where near as cute as yours, for my mom’s birthday this weekend. They turned out amazing! Thanks!
I made these for my office for Valentine’s Day (by request). I made a maple buttercream a few weeks ago for my boyfriend’s birthday that I like a little better – but these are quite good.
I made these for Valentine’s Day and they were a hit! Shredded the carrots in the blender and used evoo instead of canola oil but otherwise, followed the recipe to a T. I ended up with A LOT of cake though; 24 cupcakes plus half a loaf! Thanks for the great recipe!
Does anyone have a suggestion for substiting eggs? I HAVE to make this recipe – it looks fabulous – but I’m allergic to eggs. Thanks!
I just have a quick question about the icing… did you use a cookie press? The packaging of my cookie press say it can be used for icing, but nowhere on the package or in the instructions does it elaborate at all!
Oh well nevermind! I need to start reading the entire post before commenting. Do you think a cookie press would do the trick though?
The cupcakes look mucho bueno..
I like to add crushed pineapple to my carrot cake though..
makes for a really moist cake..
=]
Ginger — The frosting was done with a piping bag with a star tip.
I made these cupcakes a month ago and they are light and delicious. Today I doubled the recipe to make cupcakes for my daughter’s classroom birthday celebration tomorrow, and they came out like hockey pucks! What went wrong??? I’m not giving up on the recipe, but I’m totally puzzled…
These cupcakes were so yummy- and the frosting was perfect, although the cupcakes sunk- should I have altered the recipe for high altitude? It was easily covered with more frosting (which nobody was complaining about!!) but is there anything I can tweak? Thank you!
Yes, baking recipes always have to be adjusted for high-altitude. However, I live at sea level and have little advice to offer! If you have the Joy of Cooking, I do remember that they have a nifty little section on how to adapt recipes for high altitudes. I used their suggestions when I was staying in the mountains and was successful in both baking endeavors.
I made these cupcakes (minus walnuts and raisins) for my daughter’s 1st birthday and they were amazing!!! And of course I doubled the frosting so I could put big ice cream scoop sizes on top of the cupcakes, and have some left over to dip animal crackers in, to spread on cantaloupe, and then when I ran out of dippers- I just used my finger- mmmmm!
I made these muffins today and was a little disappointed because they weren’t that vibrant orange!!
They tasted divine, just didn’t look as gorgeous as the ones shown!
The recipe made 12 3/4c muffins and one 15cm x 8cm loaf. Which was fab because it meant I could try the recipe (the muffins were for my boyfriends mum) :)
I will definitely be making these again.
I made these for my Easter brunch yesterday and they were a hit. Its true that they are pretty foolproof. I shredded the carrots in the food processer because I dont have the patience for grating and it was fine. I omitted the nuts and used golden raisins. I made mini cupcakes so I halved the recipe and ended up with 24 little ones. They were a huge hit and I will keep this one tucked up my sleeve!
i just made these for the second time and they are so delicious! it made about 3 dozen cupcakes. the first set of 12 sunk in the middle, but the next two dozen turned out better. i think i overfilled the first round? not sure, but they all tasted great, even if they weren’t as pretty as yours ;-)
I made an eggless/vegan version of this cake (I’m allergic to eggs) recently for a birthday – used two 9″ round pans and four tablespoons of milled flax seed + 3/4 cup (12 tbsp) water as a binding substitute for the eggs. I skipped on the nuts since the birthday boy isn’t a big fan of nuts but loves carrot cake, and used a different cream cheese frosting recipe since I wasn’t sure people would love the maple (and real maple syrup’s not easy to find in Florida.) I don’t think anyone could tell the difference, and it was universally loved.
I have made these DELICIOUS cupcakes twice now and plan to make them again this weekend for my son’s first birthday party. They are healthy and not too sweet…perfect for a one year old. My husbands favorite cake is carrot cake, our wedding cake was an organic carrot cake from worldsbestcarrotcake(dot)com and these are right up there with that one! So moist and yummy. Just make them, you will be happy!
Just stumbled upon your website looking for some cake recipe. Looks like I’ll be around for a long while going through and trying the cake recipes here. ThankQ for sharing.
I made your carrot cake recipe this past weekend and it was fantastic! It was also very easy. I’m not an experienced baker, having only recently started baking cakes from scratch, so my results have been someone hit-or-miss. And, I’ve never made a carrot cake before. However, this cake was a huge hit. Thanks!
I made these little gems for a party at work. Everyone loved them. Even the vegan could not stay away from them and decided certain things have to be made an exception for!
I just made these minus raisins and with walnuts that I ground finely to avoid the lumps that mean that the kiddies wont eat the cakes I have so lovingly made. They think that they are fantastic! I didn’t ice them though, but the frosting sounds great! I find if I frost them my 3 year old only eats the frosting and not the cake! I’m just not telling them that they are carrot cakes though cos they probably wont eat them if I do, LOL!
Hm, I just made these and something didn’t work. They taste fine, but they’re not really very good looking (without the frosting).
For some reason, they’re oily, which means that the top got a weird hardness to it while baking. And they puffed up quite a bit during baking, so they sunk in the middle too. The paper cups are oily too. I’ve never ever had to adjust baking for altitude, because I’m in northern Colorado and we’re under a mile above sea level. I’m wondering if I would have to do that if I made these again. And they kind of look like spice cake with carrot shreds. The shreds are fairly big (I used the tiny side of the grater) and the orange color just didn’t get into the cupcake. They’re pretty brown.
One good thing is that upon the surprise “You’re out of nutmeg!” moment, I just substituted half allspice, half cloves. It’s a little more autumney than traditional carrot cake, but still good.
I might try these one more time to see if I can fix what happened, but I’m a little sad.
I made this for my husband’s birthday today (cake version). I am new to making cakes and the wax paper tip was worth learning now! You’re right that there is quite a bit of leftover frosting. I will find something to do with it for sure! Thanks.
Did a half recipe and made a loaf (with walnut, no raisins). Nice and moist, wonderful spicy taste, plus I got to use up the rest of a bag of carrots that had been hanging around.
Am resisting to ice it though. So far I am. For now…
I tried this recipe this week for my friend’s birthday and everybody liked it! I have one question though, how is it that the picture shows the cupcakes to have a vivid orange color while mine was brown? Did you happen to add an orange food coloring?
Thank you very much for posting this recipe. By the way, do you have a good recipe for french bread?
Thanks.
I made a double recipe to share with my neighbor who just popped out her fourth child, my husband’s admins, and my kids (please read myself). I usually use Sheila Lukin’s recipe for carrot cake as I am a big fan of all things pineapple. The vivid orange color convinced me to give yours a whirl. Alas, mine came out brown as well. I sprinkled cinnamon sugar over the top of my piped cupcakes and hid my stash in the back of the fridge behind olive jars and the applesauce. They found them :( Thank you for the recipe! Long live carrot cake!
Hi Deb
I was wondering what grade of maple syrup did you use, Grade A, Grade B etc.
Jackie — I have never looked! Whatever I have on hand.
Just curious, can this be made without the maple syrup? My very first job was waiting tables at IHOP, and after 6 months of smelling like maple syrup mixed with bleach water, I can’t stand the stuff.
I can assure you that the stuff at IHOP bears no resemblance to pure maple syrup — it’s corn syrup with artificial flavoring. Nevertheless, you can use any old cream cheese frosting, such as this one, no need to use a maple-infused one.
Hi Deb! I’m absolutely in love with your site. I’m new at baking and cooking and I’m happy to say that Smitten Kitchen has held my hand through it all! I’m making my first layer cake for a birthday girl who loves carrot cake, and just wanted to know if there is any part of the recipe that can be done ahead of time. Would it be OK to make the cake a day early and refrigerate it, for example? I’m sure this is a “duh” question but just want to make sure I do everything right…Thanks, you’re truly the best!
I am making a friend’s wedding cake and plan on using this recipe. Do you have any advice on the frosting sitting out for a few hours, from the time of delivering the cake to the time it gets eaten. I would hate for it to start slipping or not look nice when it comes time to cut it. It’s a casual wedding so I’m not making any elaborate decorations, just some real flowers that will be place on the cake once it gets to the venue.
Is there an ingredient I could add to make it more stable? I’ve made a cream cheese frosting before for a cake that sat around for a few hours and it was fine. I was just wondering if there was something I could do to guarantee (at least a bit) that it will still look beautiful.
The only way to see if something is suitable to hold up for a wedding cake is to make a small version of it and leave it out in similarly warm conditions for at least as long, but safely longer and see what happens. From there, you can take note of what needs to be adjusted. As for advice on stabilizing cream cheese frosting, a wedding baking forum (wilton.com has great boards) would be the best place to look. Good luck.
Thanks for the advice. I am making a small sample cake this weekend so I’ll leave it out for a bit and see what happens.
Delicious! I subbed a half the white sugar for brown, since my family likes the flavour more, and used a regular cream cheese frosting. Turned out perfect!
So excited to make these for my son’s 1st b-day!!!
Oh, just what I have been looking for! Enjoy this site so much! Love to bake, family loves to eat. Son has been known to go at a fresh pan of bars with a soup spoon. Very satisfying.
i just made these, and holy moly, i licked that frosting bowl clean! you are my cooking inspiration – thank you for this fabulous recipe!
I made this carrot cake for my sister’s birthday and it invited favorable comparisons to the carrot cake at Cafe Latte. In the Twin Cities, that is a BIG DEAL! I used 1/4 c. finely chopped crystallized ginger instead of the powdered ginger and used the fine grating drum on my Kitchen Aid rotary grater attachment for the carrots. It grated them very finely with fairly minimal effort. Great recipe – it’s going in the file for sure.
Just (finally) made this and OMG I hate myself for delaying it. But then again, I always hate myself when I don’t cook what Deb tells me to the very minute she posts it because everything is always phenomenal.
I never manage to follow recipes perfectly, but I can’t imagine this tasting any better than it does, so I’m beyond happy with it.
This was the best carrot cake I’ve ever eaten. I put a cream cheese frosting with cinnamon on it(Joy the Baker) and it was awesome. My brother asked me to make his birthday cake every year.
This carrot cake changed my life. I have never had my own birthday cake that someone lovingly made for me each year. I could never settle on just one thing and switched it up every year looking in vain for the perfect birthday cake. Husband (who is NOT a baker) made this for my last birthday and I went to some sort of carrot cake nirvana. I don’t even like carrot cake that much. I’m a chocolate girl. But this is it. The Official Birthday Cake.
Hi Deb,
I made these the other day and they were awesome! I did get scared with the amount of canola oil but at least it is a “good” fat and considering that you are only going to eat one cupcake at a time, it is not a big deal. I am with you on eating the good stuff but in moderation.
Here are my results:
http://javafoto.com/wp/?p=1008
-Charlotte
I made this as a cake for my friend’s wedding and it was soooooooo delicious. I needed three times as much batter but was afraid of tripling everything (way too much at once and didn’t want to chance srewing up the proportions of ingredients). I made one double batch for the base and one single batch for the smaller top layer. I was patient and thorough. The cake is super moist. I used the smallest size on my box grater and it was worth the clenched hand at the end. The pieces of carrot were so fine they practically melted into the cake. No carrot “hairs” sticking out of the slices.
I had an insane amount of compliments on it. Seriosly delicious. The frosting totally makes it. Not too sweet with a subtle maple flavor. I did up the maple syrup a bit (and added some extra powdered sugar to keep the consistency right). The groom is a huge maple syrup fan and there was homebrewed maple stout at the reception.
I am so bummed! I made these last night and they don’t look like yours at all – it looks like a 5 year old made mine! I was out of canola oil and substituted coconut oil, which seemed like a good idea at the time – but I think it definitely wreaked havoc on the beauty factor of my cupcakes. They are sunken in the middle, bubbly, flat, crunchy on top, and took 20 minutes to cook through, but I must admit they still taste fantastic :) Maybe if I put enough frosting on them no one will notice?!
Hello! I absolutely LOVE this blog. Thanks to your recipes, a no-talent cook/baker such as myself can occasionally pass as “half decent” for company. :) Speaking of which… I made this cake a few day ago and froze it (hope that was OK!) and I plan to serve it to my in-laws this Wednesday when they arrive for Thanksgiving. How should I go about defrosting/icing it? (PS: I have a 4 month old baby myself – first one! I can’t believe you’re still cooking! You’re totally inspiring!)
Just wondering, how much exactly is 1 stick of butter?
It is 8 tablespoons or 4 ounces or 113 grams.
I made this carrot cake yesterday for my son’s birthday today. Wow! This is truly the most delicious carrot cake I’ve ever eaten. I made it as an 8inch layer cake baking the layers for 34 minutes. I used half brown and half white sugar and replaced 1/4 cup of the oil with applesauce, It was a nice rich brown once baked. My frosting was a little soft even after chilling. I could fix it with more powdered sugar, but I like it’s sweetness level as the recipe instructed. It spread nicely though and didn’t run off the cake, I just would have had to add some powdered sugar to what remained if I had wanted to pipe decorations. Not a problem! I would use this recipe again. Thanks, Deb.
hi deb! my husband loveslovesloves the whole banana bread, zuchini bread, carrot cake genre of desserts. especially when they are covered with vanilla ice cream or cream cheese frosting! i have tried so many recipes of all three over the four years we have been together and all, every single one of them, have been mediocre at best. i’m a really good cook and this seriously frustrated me. so finally, for his 39th this weekend, i tried this one. and it was sooooo very very delicious. so i guess this whole little post is just to tell you thank you. thank you for this recipe. finally i can make my husband a birthday cake he enjoys.
xo and happy holidays.
samantha
oh! i did mine in two loaf pans b/c they were more handy than my cake pans. i cooked them for nearly a hour to get a good set. and the parchment paper suggestion i ignored and consequently left a good size hunk of each in the bottom of the pan. the frosting was delicious. so very very yummy and perfect for kick starting my new years dieting plans. ha!
Delicious! When I was growing up, each member of the family got to choose their birthday cake recipe. My brother always chose carrot cake, and I’m so old that this predated food processors. I always had to grate the carrots by hand, and usually some of my knuckles, too!
The maple frosting is a great addition!
I made this tonight and it was a kick ass, amazing cupcake. I was introduced to smittenkitchen just this week and am a woman obsesseed, and this is the first of many recipes I will try. Thank you!
Best carrot cake ever, Deb! Super, super moist and super, super tasty!
Hi, first of all, I love your blog!!! next, I have a question on this recipe. I’ve already made the cupcakes and they are delicious, now I’m wishing to make this a bigger cake for an office going away party. I need it to feed 50 people. I was thinking of doing a sheet cake. I was just wondering how you might adjust the recipe and baking times. So far I’m thinking of doubling the recipe and using two 17X12 sheet pans. Would that work? I’m just not sure on the baking time. Thank you! any suggestions will be great :)
It’s my husband’s birthday today and carrot cake is his favorite (no raisins, no nuts), so I made this last night. While it turned out beautifully and tastes fantastic, I’m surprised that mine looks so very different in color. I was expecting it to be that amazing light orange color as in the pictures above, but it’s golden brown. Not a problem for me, as it will be covered by frosting anyway, but it seems to be the consensus after reading the other comments. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this frosting recipe, though. It will be my new go-to frosting… the maple in it is just fantastic!
I just made these cupcakes and they tasted fabulous! The only problem was that the batter in the middle was a tad undercooked (not cake-like and a little wet), eventhough I had them in the oven for 20minutes… I still don’t know what went wrong coz I followed the recipe exactly.. Sighs. Now i’m not sure what to do with them. Should I cook them more at a lower temperature to firm up the inside? Or should I just eat them this way? It still tastes awesome though.. =)
sugarashley — Most ovens are not perfectly calibrated and will not match estimated cooking times; the only reliable method is to always make sure a toothpick or tester comes out clean. You might try to re-bake yours…