This is hands down one of the best carrot cake recipes that I have come across! The cake is extremely moist without being too mushy, gives you the perfect amount of crunch with the added walnuts and not to mention the out of this world cream cheese icing that completes it. 

There is an option to create candied carrot coins as a garnish, which takes a little bit longer to make but is with out a doubt worth it. They really take your cake to the next level. 

-What You Need-

-For the cake-

*Before you start, here's a tip on how to make your own buttermilk so you don't have to go out and buy it! Take one cup of milk and just add in 1tbsp of vinegar. Give it a good mix and let sit for a few minutes before using*

Make sure to preheat your oven to 350. As you're waiting for the oven to heat up, trace 2 parchment circles out for your cake pans and spray them with non-stick spray. You'll also want to grab 2 mixing bowls; one for dry ingredients and one for the shredded carrots. You will need a third bowl for your butter and sugar mixture (This is best in an electric mixing bowl since you'll be creaming them together). 

Adding in walnuts is totally optional, but I would highly recommend it for that extra little bit of crunch! Taking a small sauce pan, add in the chopped walnut, toasting them until they are golden brown. I kept them on medium heat for about 8ish minutes giving them a few stirs to avoid any burning. Keep them to the side until the batter is ready!

Start by washing and peeling all of your carrots. Now grab a cheese grater and start shredding all of the carrots into the bowl. Use the largest grating holes so you get nice coarse carrot chunks. Pour your buttermilk into this bowl and put aside. 

Taking your second mixing bowl, add in all of your spices, flour, salts and powder. Use a whisk and gently stir it all together making sure everything is incorporated evenly. Put this alongside the carrot bowl and let's move on to the butter and sugars. 

In a mixing bowl add in the eggs, sugars and vanilla. Make sure to have the oil ready so you can add it in at the end of this step. Beat the ingredients together until the batter has become lighter in color and is quite thick ( ~4-5 minutes). Once you're satisfied with that, reduce to a lower speed and our in the oil until it's all combined. 

The only way I can evenly distribute my cake batter is to use a cup or spoon and do "one for you, and one for you" situation until I'm out of batter. Give the filled cake pans a nice light drop on the counter to bring any air bubbles up to the surface. Open your oven, place the pans in the middle rack for about 30-40 minutes. Make sure to turn the cakes around half way through so they cook perfectly. Let cool on a cooling rack for about 10-15 minutes before icing.


-For the candied carrot coins-

These are garnish for the cake, and are totally optional like I mentioned earlier, but make the cake so much nicer, especially if you're serving it to guests!
As the cakes are cooking, grab your carrots and slice them super thin. If you have a mandolin please use this to avoid any fingers getting cut off...otherwise use a knife very carefully. Pop the slices into a small saucepan adding in 2 tbsp of granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of water all on medium heat. You want to bring them to a simmer, constantly stirring them so there's no burning. Once they're softish, turn the heat up to high, where the liquid is going thicken.


When the carrots have been all coated with this thick-ish syrup, add in the salt while stirring constantly. Essentially you want to be left with candied carrots, and minimal liquid. Once you've reached this point, put them on parchment paper to let them cool down. They will still be sticky, which is what you want! Add more granulated sugar to the coins to truly give them that candied look!


-For the icing-

Beat together the butter and cream cheese on high speed until its quite fluffy and smooth (2-3 minutes), and then add in the vanilla and salt. Reducing the speed and add in the icing sugar ( If the mixer is on too fast, you'll be greeted with a white cloud of dust!). Mix for another few minutes and you're ready to ice!

With your first cake round facing upside-down, take a generous amount of icing and coat the entire thing. With your second cake round, put it also upside-down onto of the first cake and start icing the sides making sure you are filling in the gaps!

With all the gaps filled, use the remaining icing to do a second coat. This makes it look a bit fuller, and is gives you the perfect cake to icing ratio. Lastly, sprinkle on your candied carrot coins however you want!