Fit-Fun-Delish.com shares yummy carrot cake recipe

April 03, 2014

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My name is Ana Frias and I’m a portrait photographer turned food photographer. I reside in Scottsdale, Arizona with my husband Paul. I have two sons in college so that makes me an empty nester! I started my blog as a way to share fitness tips and my favorite recipes with friends. I wanted to motivate them to stay healthy for life. Now, it's a great platform for me to test out and share new recipes. It doesn’t matter what kind of recipe it is as long as it’s good. In addition, I just started featuring some of the restaurants I visit as a way to share the beautiful community we have in Arizona. Photography & food have always been my passion, however, I did not connect those two until recently, with my blog Fit, Fun & Delish.

Carrot Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

Dreaming of carrot cake. That’s what I did for the past 7 months until this weekend. I made this carrot cake for Thanksgiving last year and ever since then I’ve been ~~obsessing~~ thinking about making it again. This is honestly the best carrot cake I’ve ever had! It’s moist and has the perfect sweetness to it. So good.

xo, Ana

Carrot Cake, slightly adapted from book Foolproof by Ina Garten

Author: Fit, Fun & Delish!

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

For Cake

2 cups sugar
? cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound carrots, grated
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
For Mascarpone Frosting
12 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

To make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees. Grease 2 (9 x 2-inch) round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and grease the flour the pans.
In medium bowl, sift together the 2 cups of flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, oil, and eggs on medium-high speed for 2 minutes, until light yellow and thickened. Stir in the vanilla.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ones.
In a medium bowl, toss the carrots, raisins, walnuts, and the 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir into the batter with a rubber spatula. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 10 minutes, lower the heat to 350 degrees, and bake for 30 to 35 more minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 15 minutes, turn out onto baking rack, and cool completely.
Place one cake on a flat serving plate, rounded side down, spread half the frosting on the top (not the sides). Place the second cake on top of the first cake, rounded side up. Frost just the top of the second cake.
To make the frosting:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the mascarpone, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, cream, and vanilla together for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Be careful not to over beat since it can make the frosting curdle.