The Best Carrot Cake w/ Maple Cream Cheese Frosting - Sweet Somethings

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 cups finely grated peeled carrot, packed
• 1 cup coconut flakes, sweetened
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
• (reserve 1 tablespoon of drained Pineapple juice)
• 1 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped small pieces
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 2 (8oz.) packs cream cheese, softened at room temp
• 2 sticks butter, softened at room temp
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from sweetsomethingsblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare cake pans by spraying with cooking spray (or buttering with softened butter) and dusting with flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
Peel, then grate approx 4-5 large carrots to yield 2 cups packed. Grate carrots finely to no more than 1/4 inch pieces and make sure you peel your carrots first- you don't want the tough skins in your cake!
In the bowl of your stand mixer, add carrots, drained pineapple, raisins, coconut flakes, and walnuts and mix well with a big spoon.
To this mixture, add the vegetable oil, vanilla, reserved pineapple juice and eggs (one at a time). Scrape down bowl often.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix with a hand mixer or your stand mixer for about 1 minute until well mixed. Do not over mix!
Pour batter into prepared 8" cake pans or approximately 20 Cupcake liners filled 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes for 8" cake or 18-20 mins for cupcakes. Insert toothpick into center of cake to check for doneness. Toothpick will come out clean and dry when ready.
Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans for 10-15 minutes. Run a butter knife around edges of cake and flip over unto parchment paper and allow it to cool completely upside down. Be very careful while flipping because cake is very fragile while warm.
Once cake has cooled completely, slice each one in half and spread with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:
In bowl of stand mixer (or with hand mixer) beat cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy, approximately 2-3 minutes.
Turn speed down to low and add in powdered sugar, 1 cup at at time.
Add in maple syrup and turn speed up to high and mix for 1 minute to make sure everything is thoroughly combined. Scrape down bowl and mix again until mixture is silky and creamy with no lumps remaining.