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The Best Carrot Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting sits on stand with fresh thyme sprigs to the side.

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.