This is the most fabulous carrot cake. My parents baked a 6-layer version of this cake for our engagement party last year. This Ginger Carrot Cake is deeply, flavorful, moist, and incredibly delicious. It’s hard to go wrong with carrot cake, but this one is over the top because of the freshly grated ginger. It is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe.
This recipe makes a 2-tiered layered cake. For our engagement party, my parents made 1.5 times the recipe to make 3 layers, then carefully sliced them in half horizontally to make 6 thin layers. It was so impressive. That was the last party my stepfather attended before he declined and died rapidly from pancreatic cancer. We had no idea at the party that he had cancer, but a month later he was gone. I waited a year to post the recipe because it was too emotional. Now I feel ready and joyful to share the recipe with all of you. I hope you can make it and share it with your loved ones.
Ginger Carrot Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- unsalted butter, for pans
- 3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for pans
- 1 pound large carrots
- 3 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups canola oil
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup pecans toasted and finely chopped
For the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 24 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F and center the oven racks. Butter two 8-inch cake pans, and line them with parchment paper. Dust the bottoms and sides with flour, and tap out any excess. Set the pans aside.
- Grate the carrots using a grater with smaller holes. The grated carrots should yield 2.5 cups. Place the carrots, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, sugar, oil, and ginger in a large bowl. Whisk until combined.
- In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until combined. Fold in the toasted pecans.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, rotating the pans for even baking, if needed, about an hour. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and return the cakes to the pan to cool.
- To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the cream cheese. Beat until well combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes more. Gradually beat in the sugar on low speed. Then beat in the orange zest, ginger, and a pinch of salt. Beat 5 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate and whip again before using.
- To assemble, remove the papers from the bottoms of the cakes. If you want to create 4 layers, use a long serrated knife to cut each cake layer in half horizontally. Place a layer on a cake stand and spread 1/4 cup of the frosting across the top. Continue layering the cake and spread the frosting on the top and sides.