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a slice of the carrot cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting on a plate.

Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Brooke Homec
This is a classic carrot cake with a brown butter cream cheese frosting. It's moist, loaded with fresh carrots, lots of spices and an over the top addictive frosting.
5 from 22 votes
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
cooling 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 16
Calories 728 kcal

Ingredients
 

For the Cake:

  • 1 lb (453.59 g) carrots grated or finely shredded
  • 1½ cups (354.88 ml) neutral oil I use melted coconut or canola
  • 4 large eggs room temperature
  • 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • ⅓ cup (80 g) buttermilk room temperature
  • 3¼ cups (455 g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ginger
  • ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) cloves

For the Frosting:

  • 16 oz (453.59 g) cream cheese room temperature
  • 1 cup (227 g) butter browned
  • 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) vanilla
  • 4 cups (480 g) powdered sugar
  • ⅛ teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) salt

Instructions
 

To make the cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of 3 eight inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl whisk together oil, eggs, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla.
  • In a seperate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, flour, powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until combined.
  • Fold in the grated carrots.
  • Pour batter evenly into 3 cake pans. This seems to weigh about 600g per pan for me.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.  Transfer the baking pans to a wire cooling rack and let the cakes cool until they reach room temperature.

To make the frosting:

  • Brown the butter over low heat in a large saucepan. Once done, pour into a measuring cup or bowl and place in the fridge to solidify again. Should take about an hour.
  • Cream together chilled brown butter and softened cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla, powdered sugar and salt and mix until creamy and smooth.

To assemble cake:

  • Place one of the cake layers on a cake plate or serving stand. Spread a small amount of frosting over the first layer. Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting. Repeat spreading a small amount of frosting again over the second layer.
  • Place final cake layer, top side down. Frost the entire cake, top and sides, with a thin crumb coat layer of the cream cheese frosting. Place in the fridge or freezer for about 10-15 minutes to chill. Pull the chilled cake out, and frost the cake with the remaining frosting.  
  • Pull the chilled cake out, and frost the cake with the remaining frosting.  

Notes

If baking cupcakes fill the liners ¾ of the way full and bake at 350 for 18-24 minutes. This recipe would yield about 32 cupcakes.
Cakes will have the best results if made with room temperature ingredients. I like to pull my eggs, cream cheese, and butter out of the fridge an hour or two before I start baking. 
You can either grate fresh carrots by hand with a box grater or grate them with a food processor by using the shredding disk.
 
I know some people love nuts in their carrot cake, It will not affect the recipe if you wanted to add a cup or two of nuts. Or top the cake with some chopped pecans too for some added texture.
Make Ahead Instructions: The frosting can easily be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge in a sealed container. Remove frosting from the fridge an hour before you’re ready to frost the cake, to give it time to come to room temperature.
Freezing Instructions: After baking the cake layers, allow them to cool completely, then wrap them well in plastic wrap and stick each layer in a ziplock freezer bag. They can be frozen for a few months. I usually just pull them out of the freezer once I am starting to make my frosting, or an hour or two before I want to assemble.
I have given both cups and grams as measurements. Grams will be more precise, especially when measuring flour. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, no problem! Just lightly spoon flour into your measuring cup to insure its not packed in there. Light and fluffy is the key.

Nutrition

Calories: 728kcalCarbohydrates: 79gProtein: 7gFat: 44gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 7gMonounsaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 106mgSodium: 543mgPotassium: 187mgFiber: 2gSugar: 57gVitamin A: 5548IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 90mgIron: 2mg
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