Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting
Embrace root vegetables as dessert with this fluffy spice cake filled with fresh carrots and toasted walnuts. Super flavorful and slathered with frosting, Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese is the most scrumptious cake you've ever tasted.
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour unbleached
- 3/4 tsp sea salt fine
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder fresh
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda fresh
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil mild
- 4 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla pure
- 2 1/2 cups finely grated carrots fresh
- 3/4 cup walnuts toasted and ground
Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp bourbon
Instructions
Carrot Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8-inch round baking pans then line with parchment paper. Set aside
- In a medium bowl whisk together the first seven ingredients. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk brown sugar, granulated sugar and olive oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and whisk until blended. Stir in vanilla.
- Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Stir in grated carrots and ground walnuts with a wooden spoon.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared baking pans.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean.
- Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely (about 1.5 hours).
Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat softened butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Add powdered sugar and bourbon and beat until creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Assembly
- After cakes have cooled completely, turn them out from their pans and level tops with a cake leveler or serrated knife.
- Using an offset spatula, frost top of first cake layer with cream cheese frosting then stack second layer on top. Frost top and sides with remaining frosting. For best results, chill cake for half an hour before slicing.
- Cover leftovers with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator up to 5 days.