The Best Carrot Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

This is the carrot cake recipe I turn to again and again, when baking for potlucks, get togethers, or when baked goods are needed to feed volunteers. 

It gets requested more than any other cake I make!  It is easy, with moist, flavourful results.  It can be dressed up, or served up in a most rustic way, but it will always get gobbled up with not even the crumbs left behind.

What You Will Need

Batter: The batter ingredients are very straightforward. Flour (you can substitute the all purpose flour with your favourite Cup for Cup gluten free blend), granulated and light golden sugar, apple sauce, avocado or other neutral oil, eggs, spices like cinnamon, ginger and cloves, baking powder and soda, and of course plenty of finely shredded carrots.  I have forgone all the bells and whistles, so no raisins, canned pineapple etc.  But I do include some toasted nuts, either pecans or walnuts, just for some play of texture.

Cream Cheese Frosting: The frosting is a classic cream cheese frosting.  So softened cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered or icing sugar, milk, and for some fun flavour and kick, freshly grated ginger!

Garnishes: a nut streusel topping, chopped candied ginger, finely chopped dried apricots, candied carrot curls, candied or plain walnut or pecan halves, or a combination of all of the above!

Method

You can easily use two bowls, some wooden spoons and a whisk.  Or you can use a hand or stand mixer to combine all the batter ingredients.  It’s just a matter of combining all the wet ingredients in one bowl and blending till smooth.  In the other bowl whisk to combine the dry ingredients.  These will get added to the wet ingredients.  Once almost blended, you will add in the grated carrots and toasted chopped nuts.  Fold till JUST combined.  Pour into prepared pans and bake till set, with a bounce to the top, and a skewer comes out clean.

While it cools, you can prepare the cream cheese frosting.  Blend all the ingredients till you achieve the firmness of frosting you want to work with.  You can transfer this in a bowl to the fridge to help it set up before either using a knife, or a piping bag to frost your cake.

Garnishing Your Cake

The fun really comes when deciding how to garnish your cake.  I share some options.  A lovely toasted nut streusel which adds visual and textural contrast to the creamy frosting.  You can scatter it all over, or just ont the top of the cake, or even along the bottom side edges of the cake.  Fresh herbs also lend some visual interest and lovely bright fragrance.  You can use complete sprigs, if you know you will be removing them as you slice the cake.  Or feel free to remove the individual leaves and just scatter them over the frosting.

Another lovely way to garnish your cake is with finely chopped dried apricots.  Their perfect orange colour really echoes the colour inside the cake.  And of course, you can use toasted nut halves strategically placed around the top of the cake.  If you have candied walnuts or pecans, these would also be amazing!  If you also want to go through the effort of making carrot curls (here is a great tutorial) these would make a most lovely garnish.  These will be the first to wilt and soften, so I wouldn’t use them if the cake has to travel and last for a while before serving.

Options for Baking

This batter will fill two 8-9 inch, or 3 6-7 inch spring form pans.  It will also be enough to fill an 9 x 13 rectangular pan.  It will also make 18 cupcakes. And if you want a quick snacking cake, just halve the recipe and use an 8 x 8 inch square pan. The Notes in the recipe below addresses any baking adjustments needed depending on which option you choose. 

For the sheet cake and the cupcakes you will most likely not need the entire frosting recipe.  But you will need more than half.  I would make the entire frosting, use what you want and then freeze the rest.  The remaining frosting would easily cover an 8 x 8 inch square pan’s worth of carrot cake So save it for that impromtu carrot cake snacking cake.

Final Thoughts

I always find it best to bake the cake in advance.  It can be stored in the fridge, or even the freezer till ready to assemble and decorate. If stored in the freezer, thaw in the fridge.

This cake will last for a few days in a sealed container, or up to a week if stored in the fridge.

You will love how easy and versatile this carrot cake recipe is. It will easily become a family favourite.  And it will make you a hit whenever you serve it up.

If you like this recipe, you may want to try my Classic Carrot Cake for Two, it is one of those fully loaded versions!  Jim always loved this version as well.  There is also an amazing Zucchini Carrot Cake with the fun option of replacing some of either the zucchini or carrot with shredded apple.  It’s a fun and versatile recipe, using what you may have on hand.

If you bake up this Best Carrot Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! It’s always lovely to hear from you guys, and I always do my best to respond to each comment or question. And of course, if you do make this recipe, and you post it on Instagram, don’t forget to also tag me so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is such a treat.

Love Jen

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The Best Carrot Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

A scrumptious, moist carrot cake that will never let you down! It can be dressed up or served up plain, the flavour and texture stand on their own. But the Ginger Cream Cheese frosting has the perfect amount of warmth to echo the slight ginger note in the cake itself.

Course Dessert

Cuisine North American

Keyword carrot cake,cream cheese frosting, cream cheese frosting

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

Carrot Cake

• 1 1/2 cups (180 g) chopped pecans or walnuts
• 3/4 cup (175 ml) avocado or neutral oil
• 1/2 cup (125 g) applesauce, see Notes
• 1 cup (220 g) granulated sugar, see Notes
• 1 cup (200 g) golden or light brown sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups 240 g all purpose flour, can substitute with a cup for cup gluten-free blend
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 cups 325 g carrots, finely grated

Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 8 oz (227 g) cream cheese packages, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick; 113 g) butter, at room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk, only if needed

Nut Streusel Topping

• 2 tbsp (25 g) dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup (40 g) all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (40 g) chopped pecans or walnuts
• 3 tbsp (40 g) butter
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Additional Garnishes

• finely diced dried apricot, fresh thyme or rosemary sprigs, walnut or pecan halves, candied carrot curls etc

Instructions

Carrot Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two 9" round layer pans with parchment paper, by placing the paper over the base and then closing the sides in around it, trapping the paper onto the bottom. Spray the sides with non-stick spray. See Notes for alternate pan suggestions.
2. Place the nuts onto a baking sheet in an even layer, and bake in the oven till aromatic and gently browned, about 10-12 minutes. Let cool. Chop into small pieces.
3. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the oil, apple sauce, sugars, salt, and eggs.
4. Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Place into a separate bowl. Add in the cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking powder, and baking soda. Use a whisk to blend these together.
5. Add the flour mixture in stages to the wet ingredients, stirring until well blended.
6. Add the carrots and nuts, and mix until just blended. Pour into the prepared pan(s).
7. Bake the cake(s) for 40-45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The edges should be pulling away, and the centre is set, springing back when pressed lightly. Every oven is different, so start checking at 40 minutes, but don't be surprised if you need longer.
8. Allow the cake(s) to cool completely before frosting. Remove the sides from the pans after about 15 minutes, and place them on a rack to cool.
9. I like to bake the cake in advance, even the day before, and let them cool completely before frosting.

Nut Streusel Topping, can be made in advance and stored till needed

1. Blend all the ingredients in a small chopper or food processor till sandy crumbs result. Spread these out in an even layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 375F till golden brown and crumbly (about 20 minutes, keep an eye on it) Half way through use a spatula to break the mixture up and spread it around to get even baking. Let it cool and then store in a sealed container till ready to use.

Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a large bowl working with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla and ginger.
2. Beat in the sugar in 1/2 cup increments. Stop when you are happy with the texture and flavour. Add a teaspoon of milk or cream if the frosting is too stiff to spread; add additional sugar if it's too thin.
3. Place one cake round onto a cake stand or plate. Spoon some of the frosting onto the round and spread evenly. Top with the second cake round. Frost the top and sides with a thin coat (a crumb coat) using an off-set spatula. Place the cake into fridge to set. This step will guarantee that you will not pull up cake crumbs as you fully frost the cake. Remove when the frosting is chilled and set and repeat with a second layer on the top and bottom, as desired.
4. Garnish the cake top edges and sides with the nut streusel. Use additional garnishes as you desire!
5. Refrigerate the cake. An hour or so before serving, remove it from the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers, well wrapped, for a day or so; freeze for longer storage.

Recipe Notes

If using sweetened applesauce, reduce the granulated sugar by 1/4 cup.
Feel free to replace some of the nuts with golden raisins
The cake recipe will fill two 8-9" springform pans. It will fill three 6-7" springform pans. It will fill one 9x13" baking pan. Or it will make 18 cupcakes.  Feel free to halve the recipe for a quick snacking cake using an 8x8 inch square pan.
Cupcakes: Usually if you want to transform a cake recipe into cupcakes, you need to adjust the baking temperature. Typically from 350F to 375F. However, this time around you can bake the cupcakes at the same 350F temperature for this cake batter. Start checking after 25 minutes.