Sigrid’s Carrot Cake Recipe and Brunch Spectacular

This carrot cake is flawless. It’s full of flavor, with a soft texture, and it’s bright colors make my heart happy… and the icing, oh the icing, the glorious icing! The Pioneer Woman called the icing “over-the-top good” and, as always, I agree with her; She calls this recipe Sigrid’s Carrot Cake*. I made it for Easter Brunch this year and it was an absolute hit! I’m really excited to share the step-by-step recipe with you…

Carrot Cake INGREDIENTS:
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Vegetable Oil
4 large Eggs
4-6 large Carrots

Cream Cheese Frosting INGREDIENTS:
1 stick Butter, softened
8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1 pound Powdered Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Optional: 1 cup Pecans

What to do — The Step-by-Step INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Wash and peel the carrots.

Then grate the carrots… You’ll need two generous cups of grated carrot.

Now you need to sift some of the dry cake ingredients together… So, hold a sifter over a large bowl and add the following ingredients; 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Then sift it all into the large bowl, and set it aside.

Now, move to an electric mixer and add 2 cups of sugar to the mixing bowl… Or you can mix by hand, if you’re really brave! 

Add 1 cup of vegetable oil to the sugar in the mixing bowl.

And then add the eggs… And, man, those eggs are beautiful; I have to give all the credit to my in-laws… they raise chickens and give me an endless supply of yummy farm eggs!

Mix the sugar/vegetable oil/egg combination until well combined….

Now, add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixing bowl…

… and give them a good mixin’.

It wouldn’t be Carrot Cake without carrots… So, you guessed it, add the carrots to the mixing bowl!

And mix until the carrots are completely incorporated into the batter…. It will look equal parts weird and beautiful.

Pour the batter into a well greased bundt pan… WooHoo!

And, if needed, smooth the surface of the batter…  Then pop the bunt pan in the oven! Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is set.

And look at that! Beautiful, right?

Turn the cake out of the pan and allow it to cool completely before icing it…. So, while you wait for the cake to cool you can make the icing!

Clean the residual cake batter out of the mixing bowl… And then add 1 stick of softened butter and 8 ounces of softened cream cheese to the bowl.

Then add 1 pound of powered sugar to the mixing bowl… Yes, you read that correctly; 1 pound!

Followed by 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract…

Nut Note: This would also be the time to add 1 cup of chopped pecans… I didn’t add pecans, because some of my guests had nut allergies. But if you were gonna add pecans, this is the time!

Mix until the frosting is well incorporated.

When the cake is fully cooled, and I mean FULLY COOLED, spoon the icing on top of the cake…

And then spread the icing evenly all over the surface of the cake!

Nut Note: You can garnish the cake with some more chopped pecans, if you want!

Now, you can serve the cake immediately, and enjoy every bite!

Or you can refrigerate it until you are ready to eat it (for example — I made mine the night before Easter Brunch); so, place the cake in the fridge for 45 minutes to allow the icing to set, then carefully cover it with plastic wrap or foil and return it to the fridge. When you’re ready, remove it from the fridge and bring it to room temperature to serve… Or you can serve it straight out of the fridge, it’s also yummy cold!

I bet your guests will love it…. or your family… or just you! It’s perfectly acceptable for a person to make a cake for themselves, especially if it is as yummy as this one!

I hid this piece at the beginning of the brunch… and photographed / ate it after everyone left! It was my Easter Brunch Victory Lap!

Also, get the recipe for the Rolled Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting by clicking here.

Note: Refrigerate leftover cake… But you probably won’t have any leftovers! It’s that good.

Pioneer Woman Variations: (1) Make Carrot Cake Muffins by filling a muffin pan with the batter and baking for 25-30 minutes. (2) Make a Carrot Sheet Cake by pouring the batter into a half sheet pan (13×18 inches) and baking for 30-35 minutes.

*The Recipe for Sigrid’s Carrot Cake was, of course, written by The Pioneer Woman on March 20, 2008; Get her original Sigrid’s Carrot Sheet Cake Recipe HERE! You can also buy the cookbook that I got the bunt pan recipe from; The Pioneer Woman’s A Year of Holidays!

Cook Long and Prosper… or should I say “Bake Long and Prosper”?

Love, the Uncustomary Housewife