Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Two moist, spiced layers full of carrot and walnuts, with thick cream cheese frosting in the middle and on top.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
Carrot cake is the cozy layer cake of American bakeries: moist and lightly spiced with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, full of little bits of carrot and toasted walnuts, and finished with a thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting. The carrots keep the crumb soft for days, and you do not taste them as a vegetable at all.
This is where the Thermomix® TM7™ saves real work: no box grater. It chops the walnuts, then the carrots, into small even pieces in a few seconds, mixes the batter and folds everything in on reverse. After the layers bake and cool, the TM7 beats a smooth cream cheese frosting for the middle and the top.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes: 1 cake, 23 cm (9 in), 2 layers, 12 slices
- Prep30 min
- Cook35 min
- Total2 h 40 min
- Serves12
Ingredients
Cake
Cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter two 23 cm (9 in) round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper and dust with flour.
- Place the walnuts in the mixing bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 4. Set aside 50 g (1/2 cup) for the top and leave the rest in a small bowl.
- Place the carrots in the mixing bowl and chop 5 sec/speed 5, until finely chopped. Transfer to another bowl.
- Place the eggs, both sugars, the oil and vanilla in the mixing bowl and mix 30 sec/speed 4. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices and mix 15 sec/speed 4. Scrape down the sides.
- Add the carrots and the 100 g of walnuts and mix 20 sec/reverse/speed 3, helping with the spatula, until evenly mixed.
- Divide the batter between the pans and bake for 28 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto racks and cool completely, about 1 hour.
- Wash and dry the mixing bowl. Place the butter and powdered sugar in it and mix 1 min/speed 4 with the measuring cup in place. Scrape down the sides, add the cream cheese and vanilla and mix 20 sec/speed 4, just until smooth.
- Place one layer on a plate and spread a little less than half of the frosting over it. Top with the second layer, spread the rest of the frosting on top and sprinkle with the reserved walnuts.
Tips
- Toast the walnuts first for more flavor: 8 minutes in the oven at 180°C (350°F), then let them cool before chopping.
- Like raisins or pineapple in your carrot cake? Fold in 75 g raisins (1/2 cup) or 100 g well-drained crushed pineapple with the carrots.
- Keep the cake covered in the fridge for up to 5 days. It is even moister on the second day.
