Yummy Carrot cake :)

Personally, I am not a big fan of carrot cake, I think carrot should be used in soups or generally in cooking not baking. I had tried carrot cake before, always was "naaaaaah,... I don't know...!" but this recipe was tried by one of my lovely blogger friends ( Juliet) and she claims that among 3 different recipes she tried this one is the best. since I trust her  judgments on cooking and baking subjects, I decided to try it myself.

It is the best carrot cake I ever had, so soft and delicious. without further do let's get down to baking, shall we.  

  

Ingredients for the cake:

2 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of  cinnamon  

1 teaspoon of ginger powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of butter at room temperature

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of white sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 of water

2 1/2 cup of shredded carrot ( about 8-9 carrots)

1 cup of toasted crushed walnuts 

Ingredients for cream cheese frosting:

1/2 cup of cream cheese at room temperature 

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature

1/4 cup of whipped cream ( 35%)

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

First heat up the oven to 350 F, and grease your baking pan and dust with flour.I used a 9" Bundt cake pan. 

Then in a bowl mix all the dry ingredients except sugar( flour,baking powder,baking soda,cinnamon,ginger,salt and walnuts) and set aside. 

with electrical mixer, mix butter and sugar till they get to a fluffy cream ( about 3-4 minutes), then add eggs one by one and mix between each one for about 1 minute. at the end add vanilla, water and carrots and mix for about 2 minutes. lastly add the flour slowly and try not to overdo the mixing so the cake would rise well in the oven . 

Pour the batter into your pan and cook for about 30-35 minutes or till a wooden stick comes out clean form the center of the cake. 

When it is ready, take it out of the oven and let it cool down for about 15 minutes and then transfer the cake out of the pan to the cooling rack. 

when the cake is cooling down, you could prepare the cheese frosting if you like.

Cream cheese frosting:

First in a bowl mix the cheese and butter well ( remember they should be at room temperature). when they get kinda fluffy add vanilla and mix for about 4 minutes. then add the cream slowly and mix till the cream gets nice and thick. It's that simple :)

When the cake is cool, spread it with cream cheese frosting. the cream part is completely optional but it make a huge difference in the taste of the cake.

So for any carrot fan out there, this is really delicious; try it ,you won't get disappointed :)

Enjoy!

Mania