What a busy month it’s been! I’ve had two books release (Love’s Last Kiss, a full-length novel in my Deadly Force series & a short story in the Hope for Ukraine Anthology). My son also graduated from college, and we celebrated Mother’s Day. So with all of these things going on, including the upcoming holiday weekend, I decided to make my favorite cake for the graduation and book release parties: Carrot Cake.

I love Carrot Cake because it’s easy, tastes delicious (and isn’t too sweet), and I can count my dessert as a vegetable. The recipe below is one I’ve been using for years. It’s been adapted and re-adapted and I can’t remember where I found the original recipe. But it’s similar to all the other recipes out there. I hope you enjoy this last week of May, especially Memorial Day on Monday. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you next week!

Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups flour spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ¼ cups oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups grated peeled carrots 5 to 6 medium carrots
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup raisins
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup cold heavy cream not plain whipping cream, see tips
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans for topping cake
Instructions
Cake
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Preheat the oven to 350℉ and position a rack in the middle of the oven. Grease 2 9" round cake pans. Line the bottom of each with parchment paper and grease the top. Lightly flour both pans and set aside.
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In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
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In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, one at a time. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the eggs. Whisk briskly until the batter is smooth and combined.
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Stir the carrots in to the batter. Then stir in the nuts and raisins. Evenly pour the batter into the two cake pans. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. And the top should be springy.
Remove the pans and cool on baking racks for 15 minutes. Then carefully turn the cake layers out, remove the parchment paper, and then cool completely.
Frosting
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In a large bowl, and using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until creamy. Beat in the powdered sugar. Beat in the heavy cream and mix for 3-4 minutes until the frosting is creamy and whipped. Cover and keep refrigerated until the cake is ready to be frosted.
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Once the cake layers are cool, frost the top of one cake layer and place the other one on top. Frost the top of the cake, leaving the sides unfrosted. Decorate with pecans on top.