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Cakes

Carrot Cake

by Lisa

Trained pastry chef

Carrot cake topped with cream cheese frosting and a dusting of cinnamon

5.0 (1)out of 5, 1 rating

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Prep
10 min
Bake
35 min
Total
45 min
Makes
10 slices

Happy Sunday!

Today it's all about a super easy and delicious carrot cake, known in Germany as Karottenkuchen. It's perfect for Easter, but you'll love it all year round.

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The special thing about this recipe is that you don't need a scale. You simply measure all the ingredients with cups and spoons, which makes it a really beginner-friendly recipe.

The cake is a mix of dry and wet ingredients: flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar, brown sugar, eggs, oil, salt and cinnamon, plus grated carrots. They make the cake moist and full of flavor. For the topping you make a creamy frosting with cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar, which gives the cake that little something extra.

If you're looking for an easy yet delicious Easter recipe or Easter cake, this carrot cake is definitely worth a try!

Enjoy, and have lots of fun baking and eating :)

Ingredients

Makes 10 slices

Carrot cake

  • 3large eggsGerman size M
  • 1 cupneutral oilcanola or sunflower
  • ½ cupwalnutschopped
  • 3 cupscarrotscoarsely grated
  • 1 cuplight brown sugarbrown. In German recipes this is usually light brown cane sugar, a little drier than American brown sugar. In the US use light brown sugar; in the UK, light brown soft sugar.
  • 1 pinchsalt
  • 2 cupsall-purpose flourIn German recipes plain flour means soft wheat flour Type 405 unless stated otherwise. In the US use all-purpose flour; in the UK, plain flour.
  • 1 tspbaking powderGerman baking powder is sold in 15 g packets, each meant for about 500 g (4 cups) of flour. In the US and UK use regular baking powder (1 tbsp plus ¾ tsp per 15 g packet).
  • 1 pinchground cinnamon

Topping

  • 14 oz400 gcream cheeseA soft, full-fat fresh cheese. In the US use full-fat cream cheese; in the UK, full-fat soft cheese.
  • ¾ cup plus 1 tbsp100 gpowdered sugarVery finely ground sugar for icings and dusting. In the US use powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar); in the UK, icing sugar.
  • 1 packetwhipped cream stabilizerif needed. A packet of modified starch and sugar that keeps whipped cream firm; one packet is used for about 1 cup (250 ml) of cream. In the US use whipped cream stabilizer powder (sold online and in some baking aisles), or about 1 tbsp nonfat dry milk powder per cup of cream; in the UK, cream stabiliser powder (sold online), or a spoonful of mascarpone whipped in with the cream.
  • ground cinnamonfor decorating

Method

Carrot cake

  1. Line a springform pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350°F (170°C) convection (fan).

  2. Mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar.

  3. Stir in the carrots and walnuts.

  4. Add the oil and eggs and mix everything in thoroughly, then pour the batter into the pan, smooth the top and bake.

  5. After baking, let the cake cool in the pan, then release it.

Cream cheese frosting

  1. Mix the cream cheese with the powdered sugar. If the frosting is too soft, stir in the whipped cream stabilizer.

  2. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake and decorate with cinnamon.