What makes for the best carrot cake recipe may be a hotly contested topic; hopefully, we can all agree that the classic dessert should have moist layers that are warmly (but not overly) spiced. Ideally, those layers should be studded with a few choice ingredients to keep the texture interesting. The one nonnegotiable: carrot cake must be cloaked in a layer of silky cream cheese frosting so thick someone might mistake it for a cheesecake.
To achieve our dream carrot cake, we stripped the dessert of all nonessentials. Crushed pineapple? Gone. Coconut? No more. The two add-ins we left in the mixing bowl were golden raisins and toasted walnuts. Plumped with rum, the raisins add juicy, sweet pops of flavor throughout the layer cake. Anti-raisin? Leave them out if you must. However, we found the walnuts to be a key textural component, offsetting the supremely tender crumb (pecans make a worthy substitute).
We streamlined the spices, too, but turned up the volume on each for maximum impact. Cinnamon and ground ginger take the lead, while a whisper of nutmeg adds a woodsy, floral balance that beautifully complements the earthy-sweet shredded carrots. When selecting your carrots, opt for medium-size ones (larger carrots can be starchy and bland) and shred them on the small holes of a box grater or with the grating disc of a food processor—large shreds of grated carrot may not soften adequately in the time it takes the layers to bake.