Hi I’m Erin. A good carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is a thing of beauty. It might
even be better than chocolate cake when done properly. Today I’m sharing with you my
most requested recipe and my most popular baked good at our local farmers’ market
on Our Wyoming Life.
Carrot cake has taken on a funny importance in my life in the last year or so. Last winter
I went on a little carrot cake journey and I had no idea it would turn out the way it
did. Now I’ve enjoyed cake my whole life. But I’ve never been much of a cake baker,
except for opening a box and following the directions. Scratch made cake was something
saved for very special occasions. Last winter was our inaugural season of our winter farmers’
market. It’s held every third Saturday of the month November thru June. I decided to
make some changes in my baked goods line up. I had been making pies. They were wonderful
and sold very well, but with an influx of new vendors also making pies there was becoming
an overabundance of pie at market. It was time to try something new and change things
up.
I wanted something rich, decadent, simple and sinful. Cake was the perfect choice. Now
I don’t remember which month I made my first carrot cake, but I do remember that it was
very well received and sold out. I had made a carrot cake that was simple and without
a lot of extras added in. At the end of market, I remember thinking to myself that the carrot
cake did great and I will have to make it again next month. So, I made it again and
again and again. This summer it took on a life of its own. People kept coming back week
after week to get another slice. Customers requested bigger carrot cakes to share with
their friends and family and some customers were even stock piling carrot cake in their
freezers to have over the winter months when we’re not available every week. I went from
making on sheet cake a week to making 3-4 and still selling out.
Somewhere along the way we made a video about farmers’ market and it included the carrot
cake. The comment section was flooded with people saying the carrot cake looked amazing.
The recipe was much requested, and some people even made the drive to northeast Wyoming to
try it for themselves. Now I’m going to share with you my recipe. Hopefully this doesn’t
bite me in the butt and customers will still line up for carrot cake. So, this is our little
secret. Just kidding feel free to share it! Last night after the kids went to bed Mike
and I had a craving for carrot cake. I whipped one up really quick, so you could see how
it’s done. And here we go.
The first step is to sift our dry ingredients together. 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking
powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon
ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon salt.
Next in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a large bowl the wet ingredients
need combined. ¾ cup vegetable or canola oil, 4 room temperature eggs, 1 ½ cup brown
sugar, ½ cup sugar, ½ cup applesauce and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla. Turn on the mixer
until well combined. Once thoroughly mixed add in 3 ½ cups grated carrots.
Slowly add the dry ingredients with the mixer on low speed. Mix until just combined making
sure to not overmix.
A 9x13 pan is sprayed with baking spray. Or two 9-inch round pans could also be used.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place it in a preheated 350-degree oven. The
9x13 pan will take approximately 35-40 minutes to bake and 9-inch rounds will need baked
for 30-35 minutes.
If you’re bored while anxiously awaiting your carrot cake to be done wash some dishes
and then look at your phone while the delicious aroma fills your home.
The cake can be removed from the oven once a toothpick comes out nice and clean.
Place the pans on a cooling rack. I prefer to leave the cake in the pan until completely
cool if baking a 9x13 inch. If you baked round cakes and want to stack them remove from pans
after cooling for 20 minutes. Leave the round cakes on the cooling rack until completely
cool.
Once your cake is cool it’s time for the most important part. Scratch made cream cheese
frosting. This must be made with room temperature ingredients. In a stand mixer with a paddle
attachment or a large bowl using a hand-held mixer add in 8 ounces of cream cheese. Mix
until smooth. Add in ½ cup of unsalted butter. Mix until well combined. Slowly add in 2 cups
of powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. Lastly add in 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla. Mix on medium
to medium high speed for 2-3 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy and delicious.
Spread the frosting over your cooled cake. Make sure to scrape the bowl!
Slice and enjoy!
Now here’s a very important question. Is the cake the best part? Do we even like carrot
cake or do we just all love cream cheese frosting so much that it makes the carrot cake tolerable.
I like to think that it’s a chicken and an egg situation. You can’t have carrot
cake without cream cheese frosting and cream cheese frosting on its own it just too rich.
Or maybe I’m wrong and the cake is just a cream cheese frosting delivery system. Either
way it’s delicious!
I’m glad I made the change from pie to cake at our farmers’ market booth. It was honestly
one of the best business decisions I have ever made. Making changes can of course be
scary and hard. I often find myself getting stuck in a rut sometimes and forget that occasionally
it’s good to shake things up. Just like coming here to the ranch was a big change
for Mike and myself but ultimately, we couldn’t have imagined how good that change would be.
Sometimes you must push forward and make whatever changes are necessary to get you where you
want to be in your own life.
I hope that you make this cake for yourself and your friends and family. I’m happy and
excited to share this little piece of our lives with you. Cake makes everything better
and you should always eat the cake. If you ever do make it to our little corner of Wyoming
and it just happens to be a market Saturday, make sure you stop by our booth and get a
piece of the best farmers’ market carrot cake. Mike has a new video for you on Sunday
and we can’t wait to see you again as we explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary,
with frosting, on Our Wyoming Life.