| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 55 min |
| Cook: | 35 min |
| Yield: | 10 to 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for the pans
- 1 cup pecan halves
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons orange marmalade, plus more for topping (optional)
- 3 cups shredded carrots (about 3/4 pound carrots)
- three 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Make the cake: Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Brush three 9-inch-round cake pans with vegetable oil and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Spread the pecans on a baking sheet and bake until toasted, about 10 minutes. Let cool, then pulse in a food processor until very finely chopped.
- Combine the pecans, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and granulated sugar in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk the vegetable oil, lemon zest, eggs and 1/2 cup marmalade. Stir in the carrots, then fold the carrot mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Divide among the prepared pans and spread evenly (it won’t look like a lot of batter, but the cakes will rise in the oven). Put 2 pans on the upper oven rack and the third pan on the lower rack. Bake until the cakes bounce back when touched and a toothpick comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, switching the position of the pans halfway through. Transfer the pans to racks until cool enough to handle, then invert the cakes onto the racks to cool completely. Remove the parchment.
- Make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter in a bowl with a mixer until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and salt until smooth.
- Put 1 cake layer on a platter. Spread with 1 tablespoon marmalade, then spread about 3/4 cup frosting over the marmalade. Top with another cake layer, marmalade and frosting. Spread the final cake layer with a thin layer of frosting. (This is the crumb coat; it doesn’t have to be perfect.) Refrigerate 1 hour, then cover with the remaining frosting. Swirl some marmalade into the top of the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Photograph by Con Poulos
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 803 |
| Total Fat | 53 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Carbohydrates | 78 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 57 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 155 mg |
| Sodium | 522 mg |
Reviews
Absolutely delicious ❣ .. I used silicone round pans, much easier!! Made for my momma for Mother’s day.
So good.
I made this cake yesterday and it was delicious!
The cake is ok. I’m a newbie at baking and I’ve just started doing this as a hobby.
The icing was not what I expected. It was very runny and it made my cake slide from side to side while I was spreading it. Maybe I didn’t do something right, like I said, I am a newbie. Overall had to bake another cake. I don’t know if I will be using the same recipe but with a different type of icing or if I will go with another recipe. :o(
The icing was not what I expected. It was very runny and it made my cake slide from side to side while I was spreading it. Maybe I didn’t do something right, like I said, I am a newbie. Overall had to bake another cake. I don’t know if I will be using the same recipe but with a different type of icing or if I will go with another recipe. :o(
I also wanted to mention that I didn’t add the ginger. I’m just not a fan…
Tasty cake. I added a handful of raisins and it came out just fine.
This is an amazing recipe!! It is moist and delicious! This will be our go to Carrot Cake recipe!
Cooked the cake for 20 minutes, 10 minutes on each rack.. the cake was pretty dry.. I’d recommend lowering the time a bit and then checking for doneness until you figure out the right timing. The icing was delicious, but there was a lot of it.
Ok, now that I have made this, I will give a proper review. I posted before about the recipe saying to mix in the ginger, but there was no ginger listed in the ingredients. Well I looked in my magazine and it is listed in there. It should be 1 teaspoon of ground ginger. So, I did find this cake slightly more dry than my other carrot cake recipe, but nothing too bad and everyone still loved it. The orange marmalade was a nice addition and I did swirl it into the top of the frosting too. I didn’t think the spices were too bland of too overpowering. Those who thought it was bland maybe didn’t add the ginger?
Unfortunately, this cake was very dry and I found it to be overly spicy. Very disappointing Easter dessert. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next issue has an apology with an addendum to this recipe.