Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Perfectly moist and chock full of carrots, pecans and raisins… this Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting is going to be the star of your dessert table this Christmas!

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I’ve never considered myself much of a baker and my cakes don’t always come out very pretty.  But I’m here to tell ‘ya… you really can’t go wrong with this cake.  The lemon cream cheese frosting gives it a hint of citrus that compliments the carrot cake in an awesome way that I just can’t seem to put into words.  But trust me, it’s some kind of good.  So you’re gonna have to make it to find out what I’m talkin’ about!

I was so excited to get a new Canon Rebel T5i for Christmas and decided I was going to try to start “photographing the photographing”, if that makes any sense.  I started out with this carrot cake.

I’ve had my Canon Rebel T2i for almost 3 years now and it has been an awesome camera.  I have some getting used to with the T5i but it’s getting easier each time I use it.

I have learned so much about food photography in the past 3 years and try to keep learning something new every day… there is so much to learn!  A lot of my foodie and photography friends seem to enjoy when I post pictures of “behind the scenes”… it’s crazy how I can rig something up at the last minute to try to get the best photograph within my means.

The first post in my Food Photography Series is this carrot cake.  In this post you’ll see exactly how I photographed this cake behind the scenes, along with my camera settings.  I hope you enjoy, but please don’t judge… I tend to get seriously messy when cooking and photographing!  🙂

Back to this carrot cake:  it really is the best carrot cake I’ve ever eaten, if I do say so myself… and I’m not one to boast about my own cooking!

Are you into food photography?  Visit Food Photography Tips:  Photographing Carrot Cake to see my setup for photographing this cake!

Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

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Description

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting ~ Perfectly moist and chock full of carrots, pecans and raisins!

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Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 large eggs
• 1-1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups packed shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans, and additional for topping (if desired)
• 1 cup raisins

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 16 ounces powdered sugar
• Juice and zest from 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon zest and 1/4 cup juice)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Grease and line 2 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, sugars and vanilla extract for approximately 1 minute.
5. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and beat with mixer at low speed for approximately 2 minutes, or until incorporated.
6. Using a large spoon, stir in grated carrots, nuts and raisins.
7. Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center is removed clean.
8. Cool completely on a wire rack and frost with lemon cream cheese frosting.

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until well blended. Slowly add powdered sugar, continuing to mix. Add lemon zest and juice, mixing until incorporated.

Notes

Adapted from Chow.com