Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Ultra-moist carrot cake with a special cream cheese frosting

I love December birthdays, it’s the most festive time of the year and everyone is in the best mood. One of my closest friends happens to have a Christmas birthday, so I got to make a cake last week to celebrate him. I posted a picture of it on my story and got so many requests for the recipe. So, here it is :)

This is a recipe that I’ve made multiple times and have perfected with every iteration. I’ve had people who say that they don’t like carrot cake tell me this is one of the best cakes they’ve eaten. There are a few tricks for making the cake ultra moist that I’ll be sharing with you. This time, I paired it with a brown butter cream cheese frosting, and it made it really extra special. I can’t believe I’ve never done this flavor combination before. Get ready to fall in love with carrot cake all over again (or for the very first time).

INGREDIENTS
Cake:
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2.5 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups of grated carrots
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
Frosting:
1.5 cup butter
1 tbsp of milk powder (optional)
3/4 cup cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Simple syrup:
1/2 warm milk
3 tbsp sugar

DIRECTIONS
I’m trying something new this week: I’m italicizing annotations to the recipe that explain certain things but aren’t part of the recipe itself. Let me know if you guys like this format more!

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Line two 9” cake pans with parchment paper. Gently oil the sides of the baking pans.
2. Whisk together the eggs, oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a large bowl until everything is combined and it looks pale and fluffy in color. This will help add air to the batter to make the cake more fluffy and soft. I like to use avocado oil or olive oil for this recipe to add an additional layer of flavor, but any oil will work.
3. Add the raisins into the egg mixture so that it can soak up the sugar while you prepare the carrots. Grate about 4 carrots, so that you end up with roughly 2 cups of grate carrots. Feel free to grate an extra carrot if you like the cake to be more carrot-y.
4. Add the grated carrots, vanilla, and sour cream to the batter. Mix until everything is well combined.
5. Sift together the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Sifting the dry ingredients will help prevent clumps from forming in the batter. I’ve found that cake flour works for this recipe because it results in an extra tender and soft cake, but all purpose flour works as well. Then add this into the wet batter and mix just until everything is just combined. Don’t overmix or else the cake can turn tough and dense.
6. Pour the cake into two cake pans. An easy hack to help the cakes bake evenly is to add two toothpicks vertically into the middle of the pan. This helps prevent a cake dome from forming.
7. Bake for ~30 minutes or just until the cake is set. You can stick a toothpick into the center of the cake, if it comes out clean then the cakes are done. Do not over-bake these cakes! Let the cakes cool in the pan. Make sure to take out the toothpicks from the center of the cake after the cakes are cooled.
8. While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting. In a sauce pan, melt the butter on medium heat. Sift in the milk powder and continue mixing until the butter foams. Keep stirring gently until the foam subsides and the butter turns light brown / amber and very fragrant. Take it off the heat immediately and let it cool. The butter will continue to cook and turn even more brown. The milk powder is optional here, but it really adds an additional depth of flavor. The milk powder will turn quite dark and might look a little burnt at the bottom of the pan, but don’t worry, this is where all the delicious toasty flavor comes from.
9. After the butter has cooled to down to room temperature, pour it into a mixing bowl and place it in a large bowl of ice. Whisk the butter as quickly as you can over the ice. It will first seem like nothing is happening, but then it will suddenly turn pale and thick. Keep whisking until it turns into a soft whipped cream texture. Take it off the ice as soon as it reaches this consistency. If you don't take it off the ice, solid chunks in the butter will form from the cold.
10. Add in the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar and mix until everything is smooth. Feel free to adjust the amount of cream cheese and powdered sugar here to your liking. I like the frosting to be less sweet, so I used a bit less sugar.

The butter will start to foam and bubble up before it turns brown and toasty. Make sure to use a large enough pan so it doesn’t spill over!

11. Prepare the simple syrup by mixing together warm milk and sugar in a small bowl until all the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
12. To assemble the cake - drizzle the simple syrup evenly across both cake layers. This simple syrup will help keep the cake moist and soft. Put a thick layer of frosting on one cake layer, then stack the other layer on top of it. Frost the cake with a generous amount of frosting, then you’re ready to slice and serve!