If you avoid baking a cake because there aren’t enough people in your home to help you eat it, then we have the solution: Make just one slice. We’ve scaled down a regular recipe so you won’t be stuck with leftovers.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr 55 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 2 servings |
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1/4 cup pecans
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 ounces carrots (about 3 small), finely grated (about 1 cup)
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan with parchment, and lightly coat with cooking spray. Toast the pecans on a small baking sheet until lightly browned and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Make a big well in the center so you can see the bottom of the bowl. Working within the well, add the sugar and egg and beat with a fork until well combined, then add the oil and vanilla and beat with the fork. Stir the dry and wet ingredients together with the fork until just combined. Fold in the carrots and pecans.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes, then turn it out of the pan, remove the parchment and let cool completely, right-side up, on the rack, about 1 hour.
- For the frosting: Process the cream cheese and butter in a food processor until completely combined and smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape the bottom and side of the bowl. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, and process until just combined. Transfer to a small bowl.
- To assemble: Cut the cake into 4 even wedges, as if you were cutting up a pie. Frost the top of each wedge with about 3 tablespoons of frosting (an offset spatula helps spread the frosting evenly). Stack the frosted wedges directly on top of each other on a serving plate, resulting in a 4-layer slice of cake with frosting between the layers and on top. Completely cover the curved back side of the cake with the remaining frosting, and leave the 2 remaining sides open. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Cut the wedge in half, and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 2 servings |
| Calories | 1766 |
| Total Fat | 129 g |
| Saturated Fat | 55 g |
| Carbohydrates | 142 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 101 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Cholesterol | 340 mg |
| Sodium | 920 mg |
Reviews
Made this recipe carrot cake for 2. This carrot cake was awesome. Great taste. Will make this again.
Easy to prepare, good flavors but a little too dense for my taste. The frosting was delicious though.
Gonna try this as mini muffins
Good taste though I think it needs ginger and/or all spice. A bit dense but not enough of a baker to know how to fix.
I followed this recipe exactly, and it was absolutely delicious!! However, when I tried stacking the layers, the pointy end of each slice was a tiny bit higher than the rounded end and so, when stacked, tended to slide backward. I ended up with two layers instead and gave myself a double helping. 🙂
Fantastic recipe!! It came out super moist and tasty and I even cut down on the sugar a little bit.
Yummy!
Didn’t have the right-sized pan so I baked it in two one cup ramekins. Used chopped walnuts, didn’t toast them. It was fabulous. Just right for two people.
As one comment below mentions, if you were to only cut it into 2 pieces, it rings in at roughly 1,600 calories per slice. Try it in any calorie calculator… Libby wasn’t wrong. The good news is, this is actually enough cake for at least 6 people. It was tasty, but slightly dry and too unhealthy to make again.
My husband made this for us, perfect serving size and delicious!