This Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Icing recipe includes finely grated carrots for a velvety, smooth crumb and is covered and filled with a fluffy cream cheese swiss meringue buttercream.
After trying carrot cake with finely grated carrots I never went back to chunky carrot cake again. The texture is so smooth and really lets the carrot and spice flavors shine. If you like your carrot cake with more texture, you can still use this recipe and just modify it by using a grater with larger holes.
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Another unique aspect of this recipe is the cream cheese swiss meringue buttercream. Carrot cake is typically paired with cream cheese American buttercream, which is denser and sweeter. I used this version in my Easy Strawberry Crunch Cupcakes. In an attempt to please many people with different tastes, I made this cake with what I call “lightly cream cheese” cream cheese icing. I have been able to sway even the most ardent cream cheese frosting haters with this version. If you don’t like cream cheese frosting or Swiss meringue, try out the ermine frosting in my Chocolate Strawberry Swiss Roll.
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What is swiss meringue buttercream?
Swiss meringue buttercream is less sweet and less dense than traditional American buttercream. Swiss meringue buttercream is made by emulsifying room temperature butter with swiss meringue. Swiss meringue is egg whites and sugar that have been cooked and whipped to stiff peaks. American buttercream is just powdered sugar and butter, which can sometimes be too dense and overly sweet.
However, if you like sweeter, denser frostings and dislike intense butter flavor then you can pair this carrot cake with a traditional cream cheese American buttercream, like this recipe from Liv for Cake.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make carrot cake:
Substitutions and variations
Here’s how to customize this recipe to your liking:
- Fresh ginger — substitute dried ground ginger for freshly grated ginger root
- No dark brown sugar — use light brown sugar instead
- American buttercream — use an American cream cheese buttercream instead
- Ermine buttercream — use an ermine buttercream instead
- No small grater — use whatever size grater you have on hand or use your food processor with the grater attachment
Instructions
1. Place the first layer of cake on a cake board. Fill with frosting. Repeat with the remaining cake layers
2. Dollop more frosting on top of the layered cake. Cover the outside with a thin coating to make a crumb coat to seal the crumbs. Chill 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
3. Pipe frosting around the outside and top of the cake. Reserve ¼ cup for carrot decoration. Smooth with an offset spatula or bench scraper.
4. Divide the remaining buttercream in two bowls. Color one bowl with orange food coloring and the second with green food coloring. Pipe tiny carrots around the cake for garnish.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, the resulting cake just might be lighter in color.
Yes, you can leave out the cream cheese in the frosting. You will have vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.
Store the cake in the refrigerator, but serve slices at room temperature. The cake will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
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Tips:
Use a serrated knife to make cutting the cake layers easier.
Store this cake in refrigerator but serve it at room temperature to ensure the frosting is creamy.
If you have issues with your swiss meringue buttercream use these tips from the Sugar Coated Cottage.
Lastly, if you make this Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Icing be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating. I love to see when people make my recipes, so please tag me @youthsweets on Instagram if you post!
📖 Recipe
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Icing
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- pinch ground cloves
- 1 ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups finely grated carrots (300g shredded, approx. 4 large carrots)
Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 6.25 oz egg whites
- 7 oz sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 lb unsalted butter room temperature, 72 degrees or warmer
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- white, purple, orange and green food coloring
Instructions
Make the cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 6″ cake rounds, line bottoms with parchment circles.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine vegetable oil and sugars. Beat until well combined, about 2 mins. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Add flour mixture in 3 parts, careful not to overmix. Fold in carrots.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pans and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool cakes in their tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting
- Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in a heatproof bowl. Set over a bain-marie and cook, stirring constantly, until 160°F. Remove from heat and pour into a Kitchenaid mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment.
- Beat on high until stiff peaks form and the bowl is cool to the touch. This may take 10 minutes or more.
- Change to a paddle attachment, add room temperature butter and mix on the lowest setting until butter is incorporated and frosting is light and fluffy. This may take 15 minutes or more, but stay on the lowest setting. If it looks curdled, keep mixing. When in doubt, keep mixing.
- At this point, you have made swiss meringue buttercream. Set aside.
- Beat your room temperature cream cheese for at least 5 minutes until very fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla and mix.
- Add your swiss meringue buttercream to your cream cheese in thirds. Do not add your cream cheese to your swiss meringue buttercream. It will not mix in properly.
- Your frosting is ready to use as is, or you can add food coloring. I added whitener and a drop of purple to whiten the majority of the frosting. Then for decorations, I removed ¼ cup and added orange food coloring for the carrots and removed another ¼ cup and added dark green food coloring for the leaves.
Assemble the cake
- You can either build one cake with three thick layers, two cakes with three thin layers or one cake with six thin layers. I like to cut each baked layer in half and make (2) thin, three-layered cakes.
- With an offset spatula, swipe a teaspoon of your frosting onto the cake board to hold the first layer in place.
- Place one layer of cake onto the cake board. Top with about ½ cup of buttercream and spread evenly. Repeat with remaining layers. Frost and smooth the outside with a thin crumb coat and chill to set the crumb coat.
- Spread a thicker layer of frosting on the top and outside with offset spatula. Smooth with a bench scraper. If desired, pipe little carrots all over with orange and green icings.
