This Upside-Down Carrot Cake Deserves An Award!

This upside-down carrot cake recipe comes from The Kitchn. It’s a simple upside-down cake recipe; but this time instead of the usual pineapple, it makes use of carrots. I was surprised when I made this too for the first time. I didn’t expect that a carrot cake without cream cheese will still taste as satisfying. I might be a bit biased, yes, but can you blame me? However, I guarantee you that this version will never disappoint you. You are going to love this as much as my family does.

Check out what our friends from The Kitchn have to say about this recipe:

“There is nothing like the pleasure of making and eating a simple upside-down cake. Although it may look complicated, it’s one of the easiest cakes to make. You don’t have to separate the eggs, use special pans, or make any fancy fillings or frosting. It’s a one-stop shop to pure deliciousness.”

I agree with this- you don’t need any frosting or fillings just for this. This carrot cake can stand alone and you will still love it as much as you do the usual carrot cake. Believe me, I tried not liking it, but I failed.

Ingredients

2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons Clabber Girl baking powder

1 teaspoon McCormick ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon McCormick ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon McCormick ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

10 tablespoons Land O Lakes unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup Domino packed dark brown sugar

2 large Eggland’s eggs plus 1 large egg yolk

2 teaspoons McCormick pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup Borden buttermilk

1/2 cup Oh! Nuts pecans, chopped

For the topping:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) Land O Lakes unsalted butter

1/4 cup Domino packed dark brown sugar

2 medium carrots

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch-round cake pan. Line it with parchment and butter the parchment. To prepare the cake, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat the 1/2 cup of butter and the 2/3 cup of brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in eggs and yolk, one at a time, until combined, and then stir in the vanilla. With the mixer on low, alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, starting with the flour. Set the batter aside while you finish the topping.

To make the topping, melt the 1/4 cup butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the 1/4 cup brown sugar, stirring constantly, until the mixture bubbles and starts to take on the texture of caramel, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer the mixture to the prepared pan.