Indulge in a moist and flavorful ginger carrot cake with the perfect balance of sweetness and spice. Impress your guests or treat yourself to something special.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease three 8-inch round cake pans with shortening, then dust with flour. (See notes at the bottom)
In a large bowl or stand mixer, mix together the sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Add in the eggs and mix until smooth.
In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Whisk the flour mixture until fully combined. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet egg mixture. Mix until smooth.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in the grated ginger, carrots and chopped pecans.
Pour the cake batter equally into the prepared cake pans. Place them in the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the centers come out clean with a toothpick (or it can have a few moist crumbs).
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pans. Allow to cool completely on wire racks before assembling and decorating.
Make the frosting:
Place the room temperature cream cheese, butter, almond extract and cinnamon in a large bowl or stand mixer. Blend until smooth.
Slowly add in the powdered sugar in batches and blend until smooth.
Assemble the cake:
With a serrated knife, cut and even out the rounded tops of each cake layer. Place a small dollop of frosting in the middle of the cake plate. Then place one cake layer on the cake plate.
Then add ¼ of your frosting on top of that layer and evenly spread out. Add a second layer, cut side down on the top. Add ¼ of your frosting and even spread once more. Add the final cake layer, cut side down, and use the remaining ½ of your frosting to evenly frost the top and sides of the cake.
Decorate if you wish with more frosting dollops (I would suggest doubling the frosting recipe if you want to do this), garnish with more chopped and whole pecans.
Store in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
Notes
To prevent sticking, a tip is to trace and cut parchment paper to line the bottom of each cake pan. This allows for easy removal of the cake layers from the pans.
Store leftover cake cover or in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Because of the cream cheese frosting, do not store at room temperature. Cake can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days.
For easier assembly and decorating; I suggest after the cake layers have completely cooled, wrap loosely with plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour before assembling to prevent crumbling.
I would suggest doubling the frosting recipe if you want to pipe or decorate the cake with additional embellishments.
Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 15 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**