If you’re looking for the best carrot cake recipe, you’ve come to the right place. This carrot cake nude recipe, meaning a lack of frosting, is moist and delicious and is loaded with all the goodies that you’d expect to find in a carrot cake.
Moist and Delicious Naked Carrot Cake
This carrot cake, nude is one of the best cake recipes you’ll find on the web. Part of what makes it so good is that it’s so moist and delicious. The addition of pineapple, eggs and oil are what make it so moist. And you’ll want to use regular carrots and grate them yourself. They help to add to the moisture. Don’t buy carrot matchsticks to use. Those are too dry.
Best Ever Carrot Cake
This is the best ever carrot cake recipe. Seriously. We’ve made a lot of cakes over the years from scratch and with mixes, but this is the best. Our recipe loads it up with all the goodies that you’d expect to find in a carrot cake, including nuts, pineapple, raisins, coconut, and carrots the star of the show. But if you’re not into goodies in your carrot cake, you can eliminate them and still enjoy the best carrot cake ever.
Naked Carrot Cake Recipe
The definition of a naked cake is a cake that is made with minimal to no frosting. Many times, bakers will simply include a layer of frosting between each layer of cake that helps hold the cake together. Or they might take a step further and use a thin, see-through layer of frosting on the outside of the cake. The cake still shows through the frosting in this case.
Tips for Making The Best Naked Carrot Cake
Following are some tips for making naked carrot cake.
1. Grate The Fresh Carrots Finely
You’ll want to use a food processor or you can also grate your fresh carrots by hand. Use orange carrots for the best results, not multi-colored carrots. The multi-colored carrots will leave black spots in your cake once it bakes. Make sure the carrots are grated finely so that your cake crumb will be nice and coarse.
2. Make Into A Bigger and Shorter Cake
You can make several short cake layers and stack them to make a bigger cake. Or you can even make cupcakes. Feel free to alter your pan size or shape based on your preference.
3. Soften the Butter and Cream Cheese For The Frosting
An important step for good frosting is to be sure to allow the butter and the cream cheese to warm to room temperature before you make the frosting. Doing so will allow it to incorporate well and will make an ideally fluffy frosting.
4. Double The Frosting To Fully Cover The Cake
If you’re planning to make a fully frosted cake, including some piping, you’ll likely want to double the frosting recipe. This can be done easily and will save you sweating it out later on when you’re about to run out.
Frosting and Decorating
Part of the fun of making cakes is that you can frost and decorate it to your heart’s content. You can unleash your creativity and leave it naked, frost it fully and add some piping. Or you might choose to decorate with coconut on top, pineapple, or even use cut flowers to give it an elegant appeal.
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How To Make The Best Carrot Cake From Scratch
Our two top tips to make the best cake from scratch are to not over mix the cake. Over mixing the cake batter will make it dry and will make the cake quite dense. For the best results, just mix it until it is moist. And that’s it.
Make sure you use real carrots. You can grate them in a food processor or by hand. If you use store bought carrots that are already grated, you’ll end up with a drier cake. And the best cakes are the ones that are moist.
Baking Pan Options
Naked carrot cake recipe can be made in your favorite baking pan. We typically use 3 (8 inch) cake pans, or 2 (9 inch) round cake pans. But you can even use cupcake pans, or a 9×13 cake pan. Also, a cookie sheet works if you’re making a sheet cake. Our mini cake option below in the alternate recipes section mentions using an oven safe cereal bowl for a personal sized cake.
Tips for Baking Carrot Cake
To achieve the perfectly baked cake, follow the baking instructions in the recipe. Use a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake to test for doneness. When the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Be careful not to use your finger to press on the center of the cake to test for doneness as that can cause an unwanted indentation on the center of your cake.
Putting Nuts and Raisins in Carrot Cake
Putting nuts and raisins in a carrot cake is optional. If you choose to add these items, you can follow the instructions in the recipe. Or if you choose to eliminate them, that can also be done without any further alterations needing to be made to your recipe.
Cream Cheese Frosting is the Best for Carrot Cake
Cream cheese frosting has traditionally been a long-time staple for carrot cakes and spice cakes. The flavors meld so well together and have a way of balancing each other beautifully. A cream cheese frosting is not too sweet. Because of the tradition of cream cheese frosting being used for carrot cake, It is actually what our brains come to expect when we bite into a piece of carrot cake.
Assembly: How to Frost a Naked Carrot Cake
A naked carrot cake is typically frosted with a generous layer of frosting between each layer of cake to hold it together. That is how to frost a naked carrot cake.
You might choose to take it a step further because of preference and make a semi-naked carrot cake. This tends to be popular with rustic weddings and special occasions. You’ve likely seen semi-naked cakes presented on a slice of wood. To make a semi-frosted cake, you’ll use a thin layer of frosting and allow the cake to show through the frosting on both the sides and the top of the cake.
If You Love Carrot Cake Try These Recipes
Carrots and Peanut Butter
Carrot Salad with Ginger Miso Vinaigrette
Simple Glazed Carrots
Sweet and Sour Turnip and Carrot Salad
Carrot Mint Salad
Wedding Season: Naked Carrot Cake
Summertime, wedding season, and naked carrot cakes seem to go hand in hand. A few years ago, naked carrot cakes increased in popularity for special occasions such as weddings. They work well served on a sliced piece of wood for that elegantly rustic feeling that many want to achieve on their special day. They are quite simple to create, rather than tiers and tiers of specialty piping for the special occasion.
Carrot Cake Layers
Layers in a carrot cake seem to indicate elegance. The more layers, the more elegance. If you’re creating a nude carrot cake, you might want to take this into consideration. Instead of making a single layered cake, consider making it three layers, or even four or five.
Three-Layer Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
A three layered carrot cake is often the go-to layer option as far traditional cakes are concerned. And don’t forget some cream cheese frosting to top it off. It makes the perfect flavor combination.
Happy Father’s Day…Now Bake Us a Cake, Please
Our dad is one of those people who really likes cake. In fact, he likes cake more than pie. So for us father’s day, his birthday and any other special occasion is the perfect time to whip one up for him to enjoy.
Portion Control, Portion Control, Portion Control!
This recipe is the best carrot cake recipe out there. You’re going to need some strong determination for portion control. We’ll leave it at that.
How To Make Naked Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
Following are the ingredients and instructions for how to make the best naked carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
For the Carrot Cake
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots
¾ cup chopped pecans
¾ cup coconut
1 8oz. can crushed pineapple
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
1 cup butter, softened
2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt optional
6 to 6 ½ cups powdered sugar
Directions
For the Carrot Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. Line the bottom of 3 (8 inch) or 2 (9 inch) baking pans with parchment paper or wax paper. Grease and flour the paper for easy release of the cakes.
3. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
4. In electric mixer, combine sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
5. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.
6. Add carrots, pecans, pineapple and coconut until just moistened.
7. Transfer to prepared baking pans. Bake for 35 minutes at 350F degrees, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
1. Cut butter into thin slices and add to the bottom of the mixing bowl. Beat on low until the butter is softened and smooth.
2. Cut the cold cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter. Beat until fully incorporated.
3. Add the vanilla and gradually add the powdered sugar and beat on low until fully incorporated. Increase the speed until fluffy.
Recipe Variations
Below are some recipe variations for carrot cake nude.
Naked Carrot Cake with Ginger Cream Frosting
1 ½ cups ricotta cheese, 12 oz cream cheese, ½ cup butter, 5 cups confectioners’ sugar, 1 tablespoon ground Ginger, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Naked Paleo Carrot Cake (oh my!)
4 eggs, 12 oz can pineapple slices, ½ cup almond butter, 2 tbsp coconut oil, ¼ cup honey, ½ cup coconut flour, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, pinch of salt, ¾ cup grated carrots, ½ cup raisins, ½ cup chopped walnuts. Bake at 350F degrees for 20 minutes.
For the frosting use 1 ½ cup cashew nuts, 15 pitted dates, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 tbsp melted coconut oil, ½ cup full fat coconut milk.
Carrot Mini Naked Cake
This has all of the great flavor of the regular sized carrot cake. To make a mini cake, just cut the recipe in 1/3 and use an oven safe baking dish. We like to use Corelle cereal bowls that are oven safe. It makes the perfect personal sized cake for an individual’s birthday or toddler smash cake.
Semi-Naked Carrot Cake
Go by your preference as far as the frosting on your cake is concerned. You might prefer a semi-naked carrot cake, meaning that you add frosting, but you add it so thin that you can still see it. That’s how we define a semi-naked carrot cake. It is a popular style for carrot cakes.
{Naked} Carrot Wedding Cake
Carrot cakes are very popular for weddings. You can use a multiple tiered cake, a small cake, a large cake or even cupcakes. If you prefer more of a rustic appearance, consider a naked carrot cake without frosting, or a semi-naked carrot cake with see through frosting. And if you’re one who really likes frosting or the appearance of frosting with all of the piping, then a fully frosted cake is probably for you.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Frosting
To make white chocolate cream cheese Swiss meringue frosting, use 200g pasteurized egg whites, 335g sugar, 450g butter, 15ml vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Whip egg whites and then add the other ingredients until fully incorporated. You will need to use softened butter for this recipe to work.
Naked Carrot Cake Drip Cake
The drip portion of a carrot cake is typically caramel sauce. It is added to the cake after it is fully frosted. If you’d like to. Make caramel sauce to drizzle on your cake use 3 cups heavy cream, 2 cups granulated sugar, ¾ cup corn syrup, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla.
To prepare, cook the sugar, corn syrup and salt in a heavy saucepan until it starts to turn golden. Turn down heat to low and add heavy cream. Whisk until fully incorporated. Let cool fully before adding it to the cake.
Naked Bourbon Carrot Cake
If you like the flavor of bourbon, you can add that flavor to your carrot cake. Use our recipe above and add ½ cup bourbon. And if you’d like to take that a step further and make bourbon infused raisins, you can soak raisins in bourbon for a few hours before adding them to the cake batter.
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