Carrot Cake cut into individual servings

Spiced Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This spiced cake is an ideal treat for the cooling Fall weather and it is an easy prep recipe. Pre-shred carrots and separate them for the recipe ahead of time and you cut the cooking and preparation time in half.

Pair the cake with cream cheese and butter frosting and you have a new family favorite!

Carrot cake is a great way to use up a huge batch of carrots.

The ingredients are listed below along with the cake directions. I used a frosting recipe from Allrecipes.com and will include the link below. (That frosting is the best one I have ever tasted or made. I will use no other from here on in and... it only has four ingredients. Wow!)

Carrots are a great source of vitamins and minerals and contain high amounts of beta carotene. Utilizing this sweet, orange root in recipes is a smart way to add a healthy touch to our diets. They are good sources of potassium, fiber and vitamin C which is great for our bodies. The Clemson Extension Service has a similar recipe and other ideas for using carrots. Download it for free here >PDF<

I pre-shredded my carrots in a food processor a few days before I made this cake. Having them on the shelf and ready to go helped save me clean up time and preparation hassles. Bag them in increments for the amount of batter to be created. Check the lower half of the page for a printout of the recipe. The recipe makes one 9" by 9" cake or about 18 small cupcake sized muffins

Scrumptious Carrot Cake

Bake smaller portions as
carrot cake muffins

Shopping list:

2-3 pounds of carrots

Eggs

Flour

Sugar

Baking Soda

Oil

Ground Cinnamon

Salt

Powdered Sugar

Cream Cheese

Butter

Vanilla

*Pecans

*Ground Nutmeg

*Ground Ginger

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

*Optional additions:

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Placing a cake on a cooling rack helps
prevent cake center from falling and
allows the icing stick to the top layer.

Instructions:

Whip eggs until blended well. Slowly add oil and sugar until well mixed. Add salt, flour, and baking soda. Stir in cinnamon and other optional spices. Drop in carrot shreds and coat well. Bake in greased 9" x 9" pan at 350 degrees for about 25 to 30 minutes depending on your oven and altitude. Cake will be done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on cooling rack then remove carefully from baking dish. Frost with cream cheese frosting and store cake in cool place or refrigerate unused portions.

For Muffins

Lightly grease muffin pan surface. Drop in cupcake papers. Fill with two tablespoons of batter and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool on rack before frosting.

Frosting recipe

Cream cheese frosting and hand blender
- Fun Stuff! Want one of the beaters for tasting?

Small Batch Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 - 8 oz package of cream cheese - room temperature
1/4 cup of butter - room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar - finely sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

Combine and cream together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar. Store excess frosting in refrigerator.

Enjoy!