The BEST Carrot Cake EVER! This cake is super moist and the cream cheese frosting is to-die-for! I don't even like carrot cake and I ate a HUGE slice of this cake! The secret ingredient in this cake is baby food. I know it sounds weird but it adds so much moisture and you don't have any chunks of carrots in the cake. Flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, eggs, oil, baby food, cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. Can make the cake up to a week in advance. This is PERFECT for the holidays!
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans.
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the cake. Mix well with a hand-held mixer. Divide the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Allow cakes to cool for 5 minutes in the pans and then remove from pans and cool completely.
Once the cakes have cooled, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. Garnish cake with chopped pecans, if desired.
Frosting
In a bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
Mix with a hand-held mixer until light and fluffy.
Notes:
I used Gerber 2nd Foods Carrot Baby Food. The original recipe used Gerber Stage 3 Carrots. They discontinued that product, so I went with the 2nd Foods.
I made this cake in three 8-inch cake pans. The cakes can be baked in any pan you wish, you will just have to adjust the cooking times.
You can make the cakes in advance and store them in an air-tight container overnight before frosting.
The baked cake layers can be frozen for later. When ready to frost the cake, thaw the cake layers and add the frosting.
You can freeze the frosted cake for later. Remove the cake from the freezer and let thaw on the countertop at least an hour before serving. The cake will keep 2 to 3 months in the freezer.
You can add nuts, golden raisins, or sweetened coconut to the batter. Also, feel free to add some orange extract or zest to the cream cheese frosting.
I coated the whole cake with chopped pecans. This is completely optional. You can coat just the top, just the sides, or none of the cake.
Store the frosted cake in the refrigerator. I take the cake out about 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
Leftover carrot cake will keep 2 to 3 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
A decorated and uncut cake will keep up to a week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.