It's My New Favorite Too: My Favorite Carrot Cake from Sally's Baking Addiction

For a recent office birthday celebration, the honoree told me that carrot cake was her favorite cake. I was happy to have the opportunity to make "My Favorite Carrot Cake" from Sally's Baking Addiction again. A couple of years ago, blog reader Raylene enthusiastically recommended the recipe to me, and I made the cake not too long afterwards -- but it was for one of my husband's colleagues, so I just handed off the cake to him to take to the office and I never saw it again. Tom reported back that the recipient loved it, but I still wanted to taste the cake for myself.

This cake recipe is easy and doesn't require a mixer; you just need two bowls. You combine all of the wet ingredients (dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, eggs, unsweetened applesauce, and vanilla) in one bowl; mix all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and cloves) in another bowl; and fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones, followed by grated carrots and toasted pecan pieces. I divided the batter between two buttered and parchment-lined 9-inch pans to bake.

The frosting is a mixture of cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla. I also added a pinch of salt. The frosting was lusciously thick with lots of body, but easy to spread and suave. The cake batter already included a decent amount of pecans, so instead of covering the entire sides of the frosted cake with pecans, I kept the pecan garnish more minimal, limiting it to a slim border along the bottom edge.

I kept the cake in the fridge overnight and left it at room temperature for about two hours before serving. This cake was freaking delicious. The cake was soft, moist, and full of beautifully spiced flavor. It is the most delicious carrot cake I can remember eating in recent memory -- maybe ever. I prefer it over BraveTart's Brown Butter Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, both because this cake was more springy (in part because it's not stuffed chock full of nuts and carrots), and because I prefer a traditional cream cheese frosting with carrot cake. And this frosting was so creamy and sweet and wonderful. As a bonus, this cake is a whole hell of a lot easier to make.

So thank you to both Raylene and Sally -- for introducing me to my new favorite carrot cake!

Recipe: "My Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe" from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Previous Posts:

• "Everything's Coming Up Roses: Brown Butter Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting," August 23, 2018.
• "Carrot Cake, No Cream Cheese Frosting Needed: Rüblitorte (Carrot-Nut Torte)," February 14, 2017.
• "Baked Sunday Mornings: Classic Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting," April 27, 2014.