Moist carrot caramel cake recipe with cinnamon cream cheese frosting

Grate the carrots too coarsely, and they can remain noticeable in the crumb. Overwork the batter, and a cake that should be soft can turn heavy.

Frost it before it has properly cooled, and you can end up chasing icing around the surface.

This carrot caramel cake recipe takes a straightforward approach, using olive oil, Greek yoghurt and finely grated carrots to create a soft, moist crumb, with cinnamon and a little ginger providing the spice.

The twist comes at the end: instead of stopping at cream cheese frosting, the cake is finished with a drizzle of homemade salted caramel.

The combination works particularly well because the tangy cream cheese cuts through the caramel's sweetness, while the cinnamon ties the frosting back to the warmly spiced cake.

There are a few useful choices in this recipe that help keep the cake soft.

The first is olive oil. Unlike butter, oil remains liquid at room temperature, which helps give the cake a tender texture.

Oil-based carrot cakes are also a well-established approach for keeping a carrot-heavy batter from becoming overly dense.

The Greek yoghurt adds moisture and richness without making the batter overly heavy. The finely grated carrots also contribute moisture as they bake.

Brown sugar brings a deeper sweetness than granulated sugar alone, while the combination of cinnamon and ginger adds enough spice without overpowering the carrots.

Use the fine side of a box grater and grate the carrots directly into the cake batter.

The smaller pieces distribute more evenly through the mixture and become tender during baking.

There is no need to squeeze the moisture out of the freshly grated carrots for this recipe. That moisture is useful in a cake designed to have a soft crumb.

Once the flour goes into the wet ingredients, switch from whisking to gently folding.