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Close-up of Walnut Carrot Cake.
1½ pounds carrots, peeled
2¼ cups sugar
1 cup applesauce
1¼ cups vegetable oil
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1½ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Cream Cheese Icing
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, left at room temperature for a couple hours
1 stick butter (put this out of the refrigerator with the cream cheese)
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 pinch salt
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Grate carrots on the fine holes of a box grater and set aside. I’ve used a food processor or the large holes before, but for the best texture, hand grating on the tiny holes works the best.
3. In the bowl of a mixer, blend the sugar, applesauce and oil. Add eggs and beat to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and stir to combine. Add the grated carrots and stir to incorporate.
5. Using baking spray, lightly grease three 8- or 9-inch cake pans, line them with parchment circles, then spray the parchment. Divide the batter evenly among the three pans and bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean.
6. Remove cakes from oven and let sit 5 minutes. Flip cakes out onto a cooling rack, remove the parchment, and cool completely.
7. To make icing, beat the cream cheese and butter together to combine. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and salt, and whip it with the paddle attachment on high to incorporate air to make it fluffy and light. Add additional powdered sugar if you want the frosting to be sweeter—I usually don’t measure mine but just spoon it in until it looks and tastes the way I want.
8. To ice the cake, place one cake right-side up on a cake circle, cake stand or plate. Dollop with a mound of icing and spread with an offset spatula to get it as level as possible. Add another cake layer and repeat. I like to flip the last layer upside down to give the top of the cake the best chance at being flat. Use the remainder of the icing to fill in the sides and ice the top. It should cover the cake completely without leaving any leftover icing.