Carrot Cake Sheet Cake
 
Ingredients
For the Cake:
  • 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup (105g) brown sugar, packed
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup (220g) cooking oil (vegetable, canola)
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 cups (~460g) shredded carrots (8-10 full sized carrots)*
  • 1 cup (160g) raisins (optional)
  • 1 cup (130g) chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) (plus extra for decorating)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • ¼ cup salted butter, softened
  • 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake:
  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
  2. Generously grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking sheet.
  3. Stir flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon with an electric mixer.
  4. Add the vegetable oil and eggs and beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened, then beat on medium speed for about a minute until the batter looks consistent.
  5. Fold in the shredded carrots, raisins, and walnuts or pecans by hand using a spatula.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  7. Bake for 45- 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
  1. Cream your softened cream cheese and butter together in an electric mixer until there aren’t any lumps left.
  2. Add in vanilla extract.
  3. Add powdered sugar a little at a time.
  4. Beat frosting until completely smooth.
For Decoration:
  1. Take ¼ cup of frosting and die it orange. Take another 2-3 Tablespoons of frosting and die it green.
  2. Spoon the remaining frosting onto the top and spread into an even layer using at offset spatula. Run the spatula back and forth over the cake to make a nice swooping pattern across the top.
  3. Pipe carrots onto the top with the reserved frosting. I divided the cake into pieces/sections and piped a carrot in the middle of each block. I used a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #2 round piping tip.
  4. Use about a ¼ cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecans to decorate the edges of the cake.
Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
* Spend the time to shred the carrots yourself rather than buying them at the store. The carrots pre-shredded at the store are too thick to meld nicely into your cake.
Recipe by Birch Tree Baking at https://www.birchtreebaking.com/carrot-cake-sheet-cake/