Bursting with vitamin-packed carrots and slathered with a dairy-rich cream cheese frosting, carrot cake is essentially the world's most delicious health food. Okay, we're lying to you and ourselves. But it is one of the best special occasion cakes batter can make. It's also less fussy than many other layer cakes, making it ideal for beginners. But it's not all smooth sailing—from grating the carrots incorrectly to slicing your layers, there are a few common mistakes that can trip up even the most seasoned bakers. Avoid these pitfalls, and your carrot cake will be worthy of 24, uh, karats.
The baking time for this cake is relatively short (just 35-45 minutes at 350˚). This isn't ample time to cook the carrots in the oven, especially when hidden in flour, oil, and eggs. For that reason, the carrots should be grated finely enough to be suspended throughout the batter. They serve to moisten the cake and add texture—but despite the name, they shouldn't be the starring player in the recipe. Use a smallest setting of your box grater or food processor's grating attachment to turn the carrots into fluffy pieces. Aim for light and airy, not large and chunky (you're not making a crudité platter). The word "crunch" belongs nowhere near any carrot cake.
"Carrot cake is ultimately a spice cake," says Claire Saffitz, BA's senior associate food editor. The heady flavors and scents of baking spices like ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg should take center stage, so don't be shy. BA's Best Carrot Cake uses two whole teaspoons each of cinnamon and ginger. Make sure it's fresh—if the canister has been sitting in your spice rack since the last presidential election, it's time to buy a new one.
"Raisins are controversial in a carrot cake," says Saffitz. Whether or not you add them is up to your tolerance for the chewy little nuggets—same goes for chopped walnuts (just be sure to toast them first for better flavor). But rein it in after that: Saffitz says too many mix-ins will muddy the flavor of the warming spices and could compromise the structural integrity of your ultra-tender cake. Keep the extra nuts and, god forbid, coconut out of things, and definitely don't add pineapple—it'll make the batter too moist.
Carrot cake is oil-based, rather than butter-based. This keeps it moist and helps it last for days. Unfortunately, it also means you lose the leavening power that creaming butter and sugar would bring. (Creaming, or beating together the two ingredients on high speed, aerates the butter.) To avoid a dense oil-based cake, many home cooks overcompensate by adding too much baking powder. While this will solve the leavening issue, it adds a chemical flavor to the cake. Circumnavigate a dense or off-tasting finished product by vigorously beating the eggs with the sugar then slowly and gently streaming in the oil. Problem solved!
Many layer cakes are assembled by baking two 9" cakes, letting them cool, then slicing each cake in half. The resulting four cakes are then layered and coated with frosting; this makes for a towering and impressive stack. You're off the hook when it comes to carrot cake, though. "It's supposed to be rustic and homey," Saffitz says. The moist texture that makes it so tasty also makes a clean slice impossible. Plus, if you add raisins or walnuts, they'll only work against you. Avoid a crumbly mess and stick with a simple two-layer cake. If you must have a taller cake, divide the batter between three 9" pans, and layer the three finished cakes.
A proper cream cheese frosting (and yes, you absolutely must use cream cheese frosting) is essentially butter and cream cheese spiked with powdered sugar. It's tangy, sweet, and heavenly—and will quickly become a melty mess if heated. A still-warm cake will turn the frosting into a runny liquid, not the thick and lush topping worthy of your gorgeous cake. Let the cakes cool completely on racks before assembling and frosting.