Berry Carrot Cake

Berry Carrot Cake topped with raspberry jam and a fresh raspberry lemon cream cheese buttercream frosting for the most amazing flavor combo!

We love making rich and flavorful cakes, such as Chocolate Flourless Cake,  Oreo Chocolate Cake and Baileys Chocolate Cake.

Berry Carrot Cake

This Berry Carrot Cake that is tall, stunning and just loaded with amazing flavors. In addition, it is very soft, moist and delicious, and it combines all the flavors I love. I am such a huge carrot cake fan, but I wanted something different this time, something lighter and brighter in flavor. This Berry Carrot Cake is not your regular carrot cake, it’s a nice spin on it, a modern take I would day. Loaded with aromatic hazelnuts, juicy and tart blackberries and lots of shredded carrot.

All those delicious add-ins are baked into a yellow cake, that is fluffy and scrumptious. I love the purple hue that the baked blackberries give the cake, that pop of color is so gorgeous. The tiny orange specs from the shredded carrots and pink buttercream create such a visually appealing cake and should I remind you – decadent! The cake is topped and covered with a sweet and fresh raspberry cream cheese buttercream, that has a natural pink color from the fresh raspberries added into the frosting. A little lemon juice and lemon zest is added for a refreshing and citrusy touch.

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Why You’ll Love this Berry Carrot Cake

• Firstly, it is rich and creamy and are a show stopper dessert.
• Easy to find ingredients and minimum prep work and dishes to clean.
• Also, it’s perfect for brunch parties and for bigger crowds.
• In addition, it is easy to transport if you have to take them to a brunch party.
• Perfect for special occasions like Valentine’s Day.
• Can be made 1 or 2 days in advance so you don’t have to worry about a last minute dessert.

How to make lemon zest

Follow the easy steps below:

• Rinse the lemon.
• Set your tool over a cutting board. A microplane produces a very fine zest, perfect for baking and cooking. If you don’t have a microplane, use the smallest holes on an ordinary grater.
• Grate the yellow skin of the lemon only. Grate just enough to get through the yellow skin, this way you can avoid the bitter white pith underneath.
• Rotate the lemon and repeat. Once the white pith is exposed, rotate the lemon and zest the next strip of peel. Repeat until most of the peel is removed, or until you have enough zest for your recipe.

HOW TO FREEZE CAKE LAYERS

You can make the cake layers in advance and freeze them, thaw them when you are ready to decorate the cake. To freeze the unfrosted cake layers, follow these steps:

• Bake the cake layer and cool each layer on a wire rack. Make sure the cake layers are fully cooled before freezing.
• Wrap each cake layer in plastic wrap, preferably freezer wrap. After that wrap tightly in aluminum foil and place in a freezer zip lock bag (if it fits).
• Write the date and cake type on the zip lock bag.
• Lay the cake layers flat in the freezer.
• Cakes can be frozen for up to 3 months.

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Berry Carrot Cake

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Author: Catalina Castravet Serves: 15 servings
Prep time: 45 minutes Cook time: 45 minutes Total time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

Cake Layers:

• 5  eggs 
• 2 cups  vegetable oil  (I used canola)
• 3 cups  sugar 
• 1 teaspoon  vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon  salt 
• 1 teaspoon  baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon  baking soda 
• 4 1/2 cups  flour 
• 1/2 cup  kefir 
• 1 cup  roasted hazelnuts  (chopped)
• 2 cups  shredded carrots  ((4-5 large carrots))
• 12 ounces  blackberries 

Raspberry Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream:

• 16 ounces  cream cheese  (room temperature)
• 2 sticks  butter  (cut into pieces, room temperature)
• 3-4 cups  confectioners' sugar 
• 1 teaspoon  lemon juice 
• 1 tablespoon  lemon zest 
• 3-4 ounces  fresh raspberries  (pureed)

Optional Additions:

• 9 tablespoons  raspberry jam 
•  Fresh raspberries for garnish 
•  Fresh raspberries for garnish 

Instructions

Cake Layers:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare three 8-inch round cake pans by spraying them with baking oil and adding parchment paper to the bottom, and another coating of baking spray.
3. After you have cleaned and grated the carrots, squeeze until most of the liquid comes out. Set aside two cups of shredded carrots.
4. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the wire attachment, beat together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the shredded carrots.
5. Slowly add in the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda followed by the kefir.
6. Using a rubber spatula, manually gently fold in the hazelnuts and the blackberries. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans.
7. Bake 40-45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife/toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean. Rotate the cakes mid baking and switch racks (cakes from upper rack to lower rack and vice versa).
8. Cool for 20 minutes in pans, then move cake to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Raspberry Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream:

1. Place cream cheese in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire attachment. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Whisk slowly and gradually add butter, continue beating until smooth and well blended. Add 3 cups of confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest and continue beating until smooth. If the mixture is too soft add another cup of sugar, once fully combined add the pureed raspberry and whisk on medium speed until well blended.
2. I do not strain the raspberry puree, as I don't mind the seeds, you almost don't even feel them in the frosting, and I like the visual aspect they give the cake.
3. While whisking the frosting make sure to stop a few times and using a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl.

Assembling:

1. Place a cooled berry carrot cake layer on a cake stand or plate and top with 3 tablespoon of raspberry jam, spread the gem well over the surface of the cake, add a hefty amount of frosting, level it, and top with the second layer of berry carrot cake, repeat the process. In the end, cover the cake with the remaining frosting.
2. Optional: garnish with fresh raspberries, blackberries and chopped roasted hazelnuts.
3. The cake can be stored for 3-4 days in the fridge, but its better served in the first two days.

Calories: 652 Carbohydrates: 107 Protein: 8 Fat: 21 Saturated Fat: 8 Cholesterol: 71 Sodium: 543 Potassium: 222 Fiber: 2 Sugar: 72 Vitamin A: 850 Vitamin C: 7.9 Calcium: 95 Iron: 2.3

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