Caramel Carrot Cake
Bake this towering caramel carrot cake featuring warmly spiced, ultra-moist carrot layers, rich homemade salted caramel, and a thick, sturdy cream cheese frosting for the ultimate bakery-style dessert.
Equipment
- three 8 inch cake tins
- pot or pan
- Sieve
- large bowl
Ingredients
For the carrot cake layers
- 300 g soft dark brown sugar
- 300 ml vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 100 ml buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 400 g plain flour
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 350 g freshly grated carrots
For the salted caramel
- 300 g granulated sugar
- 100 g unsalted butter, softened
- 200 ml double cream, hot (heat it in your microwave for 30-60 seconds)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (you can adjust this amount to taste)
For the cream cheese frosting
- 300 g unsalted butter, softened
- 300 g icing sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 600 g full fat cream cheese
Extras
- Some chopped pecans or walnuts, to decorate (optional)
Instructions
Making the cake layers
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c. Also grease and line three 8 inch cake tins, leave these aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and all the spices. Add this into the wet ingredients and whisk everything together just until you get a smooth batter.
- Add the grated carrots and mix these in.
- Pour this into your prepared cake tins and bake in your pre-heated oven for around 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of them comes out clean.
- Once baked, leave them to cool completely.
Making the salted caramel
- In a pot or pan, add the sugar and place this over medium heat.
- Keep heating this, whiles constantly stirring, until all the sugar has melted and turned a deep amber colour.
- Take this off the heat and add the butter, whisk this in. Then whiles still whisking, pour in the hot cream.
- Now mix in the vanilla and salt.
- Place this onto low heat and let the caramel simmer for about 1-2 minutes, just so it can thicken slightly.
- Pour this through a sieve to get out any lumps, then leave aside to cool down too.
Making the cream cheese frosting
- Once your cake layers and the caramel have both cooled down, make the cream cheese frosting.
- In a large bowl, add the softened butter, icing sugar and vanilla. Mix these together, then once combined, beat for 5 minutes.
- Add the cream cheese and beat until you get a smooth, thick frosting.
Assembling and decorating
- I started by cutting the top of my cake layers off, so I have more flat even layers, but this part is optional.
- Place one of your cake layers down onto a plate or cake board, spread some of the frosting on top of this, then pipe a border of the frosting around the edge of the cake. Add a thin layer of the cooled caramel in the middle of this.
- Add a second layer of cake, more frosting and caramel, then the final layer of cake.
- Leave this in your fridge to set up for 20 minutes, then you can decorate it however you want.
- I just covered the cake in the frosting, added some of the caramel on top, then covered the sides with chopped pecans.
- Once decorated, it is done. Enjoy!
Notes
Carrot tip: Grate carrots freshly on the fine side right before mixing. Bagged pre-shredded carrots are too thick and dry, whereas fresh carrots release the essential moisture needed to soften the crumb. Grate purple carrots with caution as they can react with baking soda and turn green inside the baked cake.
Caramel tip: Use hot double cream and softened butter when preparing the caramel. Adding cold dairy directly to melted sugar causes the caramel to seize up and clump instantly. If sugar lumps do form, return the pan to low heat and whisk gently, or strain the finished warm caramel through a fine-mesh sieve.
Frosting tip: Avoid low-fat or spreadable cream cheese because they contain higher water content, causing the frosting to become runny and loose. Use full-fat block cream cheese and beat the butter and icing sugar thoroughly first to establish a firm structure.
Storage: Wrap unfrosted cake layers securely and store in the refrigerator or freeze them for up to 3 months. The finished cake must be stored in the refrigerator due to the perishable dairy products in the cream cheese frosting, which should not sit above 40 °F for more than two hours.
Nutrition information is an estimate based on common ingredients and serving sizes. Values may vary depending on brands, portions, and substitutions.