Yield: Yields one 9-inch layer cake.
Servings: Serve twelve to fourteen.
This is the iconic, all-American layer cake that most of us picture when we think carrot cake: packed with shredded carrots, chopped walnuts, and raisins, warmed with sweet spice, and slathered with cream cheese frosting.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil and flour the sides of two 9×2-inch round cake pans, tapping out any excess flour. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the oil, eggs, carrots, brown sugar, walnuts, raisins, and vanilla on medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just blended, about 30 seconds. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
Bake until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed and a cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, 28 to 30 minutes.
Let cool in the pans on a rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the inside edge of the pans to loosen the cakes, invert them onto the rack, remove the pans, and carefully peel away the parchment. Set the cakes aside to cool completely before frosting.
Carefully set one cake upside down on a large, flat serving plate. Using a metal spatula, evenly spread about 1-1/2 cups of the frosting over the top of the cake. Top with the remaining cake layer, upside down. Spread a thin layer (about 1/3 cup) of frosting over the entire cake to seal in any crumbs and fill in any gaps between layers. Refrigerate until the frosting is cold and firm, about 20 minutes. Spread the entire cake with the remaining frosting. For more tips on how to frost a layer cake, watch our video.
Refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. The cake is best served slightly chilled or at room temperature.
Make Ahead Tips
The flavors of this moist cake only improve with time, so feel free to bake and frost the cake up to a few days ahead.
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Really nice carrot cake. I reduced the sugar in the batter by 25% (1/2 cup less) and used mascarpone (instead of cream cheese) with 4 tbsp butter (vs the 24 tbsp in the recipe) and omitted the salt in the frosting. The resulting cake is still sweet, moist and the frosting is still tasty (but with significantLy less calories!)
Fab. I made it for my coworker who gave me a KitchenAid stand up mixer that she has never used. (Yep, you read that right). As payment, she wanted a carrot cake (easy!), and I made this one. I gave it to her at work where she immediately donated it to the office Halloween party. It was a sensation! It caused so much commotion that I was embarrassed for the party organizer whose Duncan Hines cake no one wanted to eat. I had more than one person say, "this is the best carrot cake that I have ever had." I did add a bit more carrots, walnuts, and spice than what's on the recipe but kept raisins and everything else the same. It's yummy!
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