The Best Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
A marriage of pumpkin cake and carrot cake into one soft, moist, tender, and amazing cake!! The tangy cream cheese frosting is truly the icing on this easy cake!!
1cupgrated carrotsloosely packed (grate yourself using the coarsest blade of a box grater; don’t use pre-packaged convenience bags of carrots)
1cupall-purpose flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
½teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonsaltor to taste
1cupraisinsoptional (or 1 cup chopped nuts, or 1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup chopped nuts)
Frosting
6ouncescream cheesesoftened (lite okay)
¼cupunsalted butter, softened
1 ½cupsconfectioners’ sugarsifted
½teaspoonvanilla extract
½teaspoonsaltor to taste
Instructions
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. Don’t use a regular 9-inch round cake pan because it’s not deep enough and the cake will overflow.
To a large bowl, add the eggs, pumpkin, sugars, oil, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, and whisk to combine.
Add the carrots and stir to combine.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
Optionally add the raisins and/or nuts and stir to combine. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Bake for about 45 minutes or until center is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, no batter. In the last 10 minutes, loosely drape a sheet of foil over the top of the springform pan to prevent the top from becoming overly browned.
Frosting:
To a large bowl (or to the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment) add the cream cheese, butter, and beat with an electric mixer on high-speedy until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, salt, and beat until smooth and incorporated, about 2 minutes.
Turn frosting out onto cake and spread into a smooth, even, flat layer using a spatula or knife. Unlatch springform pan, slice, and serve.
Notes
Baking Tip: Place springform pan on a baking sheet while cake bakes as ‘insurance’ against pesky leaky springform pans. Although this is a thick batter and not prone to leaking, better safe than sorry. Allow cake to cool completely in pan on a wire rack before frosting it so the frosting doesn’t melt.Storage: Cake will keep airtight at room temp for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. I’m comfortable storing cream cheese frosting at room temp, but if you’re not store in the fridge noting cake will be more prone to drying out in the fridge.Adapted from Easy Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.