Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Back in the days when I worked as an IT analyst, I had an office mate who used to make the most amazing moist carrot cake. On birthdays, or any departmental morning teas, she would make this cake. It didn’t look that fancy (just a slab baked on a rectangular Pyrex dish), but my goodness it was scrumptious. Moist, not too sweet with bits of pineapple , sometimes coconut, sometimes walnuts and slathered with tangy cream cheese. There would be other much better looking cakes, both bought and homemade , but this particular carrot cake would be demolished first, every single time. Is this the best tasting carrot cake ever? It is for me, and I challenge you to find a better one.

The carrot cake was so popular and there would be a demand for the recipe, that it had its own separate folder in Miss Palmer’s desk with Xeroxed copies of the recipe (this was before internet sharing). I have tweaked the recipe slightly by adding a touch of cardamom. I think it adds an extra depth of flavour. This was probably the first cake that I baked successfully , and what started me into baking sweets. So, wherever you are Miss Lorraine Palmer, I thank you for getting me started in this sweet journey.

Unbelievably simple to make, with easily accessible ingredients. If you skip the icing you don’t even need a mixer. How is it, that something so incredibly moist and full of flavour is also so easy to make. While I don’t mind slaving away in the kitchen, most of the time I love to make the easy treats and they often they end up tastiest.

The cake is delicious even without the cream cheese icing. All it needs is a dusting of icing sugar and you’ve got yourself a teatime treat. However, if you want the cake to be truly special, the cream cheese icing is a must. It’s not that hard to make and it takes no time to put it all together, the small effort pays big time.

Wait, there’s more! If you add one mashed banana to the batter, you will have yourself a Hummingbird Cake. How good is that!

What you need to make this Carrot Cake

• Coarsely Grated Carrots
• Can of Crushed Pineapple, drained or substitute with 1 grated apple
• Brown Sugar- you can use a combination of white and brown sugar if that’s what you have, but brown sugar adds caramel-ness to the cake.
• Cooking Oil – this is the secret ingredient that keeps the cake ultra moist for days
• Self Raising Flour or Plain Flour plus baking Powder – I use self raising flour because it is more convenient, but maybe substituted with 1 and 1/2 cup plain flour and 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of Salt, Cinnamon Powder, Ground Cardamom
• Toasted Walnuts or Pecans chopped coarsely
• Shredded Coconut
• Cream Cheese , Icing Sugar and Butter for Icing

Let’s make it..so easy

• In a large mixing bowl , combine brown sugar and vegetable oil until well blended.
• Add and mix in beaten eggs, grated carrots, crushed pineapple nuts and shredded coconut.
• Fold in the self raising flour, pinch of salt, cinnamon and cardamom.
• Pour into a lined 9 inch round pan or square baking tin and bake at 160°C for 60 minutes.
• Fill and ice cooled cake with cream cheese frosting.

Miss Palmer’s Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Recipe by Lola Adele

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ultra moist carrot cake with the zing of pineapple and shredded coconut and iced with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

• 3 eggs

• 2 1/2 cups grated carrots, about 3 medium carrots

• 1 can 227g crushed pineapple ,drained

• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

• 1/2 cup toasted pecan nuts or walnut pieces coarsely chopped

• 1 1/2 cups self raising flour

• 2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

• 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
  

• Pinch of salt

• Cream Cheese Icing

• 1 packet 250g Cream Cheese, softened

• 2 cups sifted icing sugar

• 100g butter,room temperature

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

• Carrot Cake
• Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F) . Line the bottom of a 9 inch round pan with baking paper. In a large mixing bowl, mix together vegetable oil , eggs and brown sugar until well combined.
• Add grated carrots, coconut, drained pineapple and nuts to the mixing bowl. Mix until combined.
• Add flour, salt , cinnamon and cardamom to the mix. Use a spatula to fold this mixture until just combined. Do not over mix.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes or until the cake is done.
• Cool in the baking tin for 5 minutes and then turn out into a cooling rack to cool completely.
• Use a serrated knife to cut the cake into 2 layers. Fill the bottom layer with a bit of cream cheese icing. Place the other cake layer on the top.
• Ice top and sides of cake with the rest cream cheese icing.
• Cream Cheese Icing
• Place softened cream cheese and butter in a mixer.
• Beat on medium for 1 minute. Add vanilla and a third of the icing sugar. Beat on low until combined then increase speed to medium and mix again for 2 minutes.
• Add the rest of the icing sugar, mix on low then increase speed, beat for 2 minutes more.
• Set aside until required.

Notes

• Will keep for a few days covered in the fridge.