Easy Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 260g all-purpose flour
• 4g ground cinnamon
• 2g ground ginger
• 1g ground cardamom
• 5g baking soda
• 4g baking powder
• 5g fine salt
• 200g granulated sugar
• from 1 lemon finely grated lemon zest
• 150g vegetable oil
• 120g sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 250g finely grated carrots
• 75g chopped walnuts, plus more for topping
• 2 (225g) blocks cream cheese, preferably Philadelphia, softened
• 230g powdered sugar
• 5ml lemon juice
• 60g sour cream
• 1g fine salt, plus more to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C.
2. Lightly coat a 33 × 43 cm sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray or oil and line the bottom and two long sides with parchment paper.
3. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
4. Pour the sugar into a large bowl and zest the lemon directly over it. Gently rub the zest into the sugar; save the lemon for the frosting. Add the oil, sour cream and eggs to the sugar and whisk until smooth and pale yellow, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the carrots and stir until evenly distributed.
5. Add the flour in thirds, gently stirring after each addition to make sure there are no lumps. Add the walnuts and stir gently to disperse. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. It will be a very shallow layer of batter.
6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.
7. The cake should have released from the short sides. If not, run a knife along those edges. Cut the cake into three even rectangles, each about 33 by 14 cm. For very neat edges, slide the cake onto a cutting board and trim the edges before cutting the layers.
8. Make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer or by hand using a wooden spoon or stiff spatula until very smooth. (It's hard to get lumps out once other ingredients are added.) Add the powdered sugar and beat until creamy and smooth.
9. Squeeze 5 ml juice from the reserved lemon and add it with the sour cream and salt. Stir until smooth, then taste and add more lemon juice or salt if needed.
10. Place one layer bottom-side up on a serving plate. Spread one third of the frosting evenly to the edges, then top with another cake layer and half the remaining frosting. Set the final cake layer on top, bottom-side up, and spread the remaining frosting over it. Leave the edges unfrosted or coat them with frosting pressed out from the sides. Sprinkle walnuts on top.
11. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes so the frosting stiffens and the cake sets. Let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before serving.