Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese

Embrace root vegetables as dessert with this fluffy spice Carrot Cake filled with fresh carrots and toasted walnuts. Super flavorful and slathered with frosting, Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese is the most scrumptious cake you’ve ever tasted.

Once upon a time, under the light of a full moon and the influence of bourbon, I decided it’d be a brilliant idea to grill at night. Only the Weber wouldn’t spark, even despite poking the igniter switch half a dozen times.

Plan B was to flick a Bic in the match-light hole. That was a no brainer, but my brain just didn’t happen to be sober enough to open the stainless steel lid first. Thanks to Jim Beam I was in no shape to operate heavy machinery or, I soon learned, a gas grill because one spark of the lighter led to a massive burst of flames that nearly scorched off my eyebrows.

Bourbon didn’t mix well with my midnight barbecue, but it does mix well with nearly everything else. Just this month alone I’ve poured bourbon into peach shortcakes, cherry galettes, milkshakes, Glade Plugins and a humidifier. And last but not least, I’m splashing bourbon into cream cheese frosting to slather on the most divine dessert of all: carrot cake.

I’ll admit, there are a million carrot cake recipes that are far from divine: the sickeningly sweet ones with canned pineapple, the ones drier than urn contents and the worst offenders by far: recipes with raisins. I solemnly swear that you won’t find any of those evils in this carrot cake recipe. It is super fluffy and moist, perfectly sweetened and lightly spiced, not to mention filled with freshly grated carrots and crowned with bourbon cream cheese frosting.

Who wouldn’t love a cake like that?

Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese is perfect for special occasions, everyday sweet cravings and people who enjoy orange food. Whether you choose to make it for any of those reasons or for no particular reason at all, your taste buds will be glad you did.

Before sharing the amazeballs recipe for Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese, here are a few tips and tricks to help you out:

Ingredient Tips and Tricks

Freshly grated carrots are a must for a moist carrot cake. Do not buy the dry, pre-shredded carrots that have been sitting on the grocery store shelf forever. Instead, buy fresh carrots and grate them at home. It’s easy and fun (as long as you don’t grate a finger).

Olive oil, and lots of it, makes carrot cake impossibly moist. In this case, choose a mild, extra virgin olive oil for best results.

To toast walnuts, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake in a single layer for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool and grind in a food processor before adding to cake batter.

Process Tips and Tricks

Wait for the carrot cake layers to cool completely before frosting.

Carrot cake can be made a day in advance. Cover the cooled, unfrosted cake layers in plastic wrap then store overnight at room temperature. If cake is frosted cover tightly and store in the refrigerator then bring to room temperature before serving.

Bourbon cream cheese frosting can be made a day ahead, however, it must be covered and stored in the refrigerator. Before icing cake layers, let frosting sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften then re-whip with an electric mixer to fluff it back up.

How to Store Carrot Cake

Cover and refrigerate frosted carrot cake up to 5 days.

You can freeze carrot cake with frosting up to 3 months. First cover with plastic wrap then with a layer of aluminum foil and place in an airtight container before freezing. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

I hope you enjoy this recipe for homemade Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese. Please leave a comment and rating at the bottom of this blog when you try it for yourself. And, while you’re at it, sign up for my Recipe Newsletter so you never miss a tempting recipe.

Finally, if you wish everything was frosted with cream cheese check out my recipe for Rhubarb Muffins with Rhubarb Frosting. They’re soft, fluffy muffins brimming with fresh rhubarb and frosted with a pretty-in-pink rhubarb cream cheese icing. The recipe is simple, easy and oh so delicious.

Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

Heather Wolf

Embrace root vegetables as dessert with this fluffy spice cake filled with fresh carrots and toasted walnuts. Super flavorful and slathered with frosting, Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese is the most scrumptious cake you've ever tasted.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Cool 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Cakes and Cupcakes

Cuisine American

Servings 10

Ingredients

  

Carrot Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour unbleached
• 3/4 tsp sea salt fine
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder fresh
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda fresh
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup light brown sugar packed
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil mild
• 4 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla pure
• 2 1/2 cups finely grated carrots fresh
• 3/4 cup walnuts toasted and ground

Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp bourbon

Instructions

 

Carrot Cake

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8-inch round baking pans then line with parchment paper. Set aside
• In a medium bowl whisk together the first seven ingredients. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, whisk brown sugar, granulated sugar and olive oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and whisk until blended. Stir in vanilla.
• Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Do not overmix.
• Stir in grated carrots and ground walnuts with a wooden spoon.
• Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared baking pans.
• Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean.
• Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely (about 1.5 hours).

Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

• Beat softened butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.
• Add powdered sugar and bourbon and beat until creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Assembly

• After cakes have cooled completely, turn them out from their pans and level tops with a cake leveler or serrated knife.
• Using an offset spatula, frost top of first cake layer with cream cheese frosting then stack second layer on top. Frost top and sides with remaining frosting. For best results, chill cake for half an hour before slicing.
• Cover leftovers with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

Keyword bourbon, cake, carrot, cream cheese