Carrot Cake and Cheesecake Cake
Remember that beautiful, flavorful, awesome, red velvet cheesecake cake that I made around the holidays? Well, a recent post on Erin’s Food Files got me thinking. You see, she made another cake with a layer of cheesecake in the middle.
After seeing that post, it got me thinking about what other flavors of cake could benefit from a layer of cheesecake in the middle. I realize there are probably very few cake flavors that wouldn’t benefit from a layer of cheesecake, but I digress…
Since Easter is coming up, I’ve been seeing carrot cake recipes all over the place. And we all know that carrot cake goes so well with cream cheese frosting, so it was a no brainer! Once I made up my mind, it was just a matter of finding the perfect carrot cake recipe.
I scoured the internet, my cookbooks, other blogs and every other resource to find a great carrot cake recipe. I decided I wanted a purists version of carrot cake, nothing with a bunch of additional fruit or nuts mixed in. I went with the Cooks Illustrated recipe and it’s really good. It does actually call for toasted walnuts, but I knew I’d be using them on the outside of the cake, so I left them out.
One of the best things about this impressive cake is that it can be broken up into small tasks that can be done over the course of a few days. I made the cheesecake on a Monday and once it was completely cooled, I wrapped it in two layers of plastic wrap, then two layers of foil and popped it into the freezer.
Then I made the carrot cake layers on Thursday night after work. The hardest part about this recipe is just peeling and shredding the carrots. After that, it comes together in minutes. Once the cake layers were cooled, I wrapped them in plastic and foil and popped them into the fridge.
Then on Saturday, I brought some leftover cream cheese frosting to room temperature and went to town stacking the cake. I once again took advantage of the fact that the sides didn’t need to be frosted very well since I was covering them with toasted nuts.
I did however have a harder time getting the nuts to stick to the cake than I did toasted coconut. I think it was a combination of two things. When I made the coconut and lemon cake, it was a 6″ cake that I could hold/tilt in one hand and use the other hand to smoosh coconut into the frosting. This cake was much bigger and heavier so I couldn’t hold it in my hand. It just sat there on the cardboard and I pressed nuts into the side of it.
The second thing is the nuts are bigger than the toasted coconut so it makes sense that they wouldn’t stick as well. The whole thing was a pretty messy process but I’m happy with the results. Hubby told me that I need to toast nuts more often because that was one of his favorite parts of the cake – the toasted nuts covered in cream cheese frosting.
If you don’t already have a dessert idea for Easter, OR, if you’re looking for a carrot cake recipe to impress someone, definitely consider throwing a layer of cheesecake in the middle. It’s just such a sweet surprise!
One Year Ago: My Go-To Vanilla Buttercream
Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cake
Yield: Serves 12-16
Ingredients:
Cheesecake Layer
1 1/4 pounds bar cream cheese (20 oz), room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest, plus 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp coarse salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
For the Carrot Cake Layers
2 1/2 cups flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb medium carrots (6 to 7 carrots, yields 3 cups), peeled
1 1/2 cups sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil, safflower oil, or canola oil
To Garnish
Double batch of Cream Cheese Frosting
1.5 cups chopped, toasted pecan
Directions:
For the Cheesecake Layer
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Set a kettle of water to boil. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium until fluffy, scraping down side of bowl. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy. Beat in lemon zest and juice, and salt. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down side of bowl after each addition. Beat in sour cream.
Cut parchment paper in a circle and line the bottom of the cheesecake pan. Wrap bottom half of pan in foil. Pour in filling; place in a roasting pan. Pour in boiling water to come halfway up side of springform. Bake until just set in center, about 45 minutes. Remove pan from water; let cool 20 minutes. Run a paring knife around edge; let cool completely. Cover; chill overnight, then wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.
For the Carrot Cake Layers
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray two 9" round pans with nonstick baking spray with flour.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in large bowl; set aside.
Shred carrots using large holes of box grater; transfer carrots to bowl and set aside.
In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat granulated and brown sugars and eggs on medium-high until thoroughly combined, about 45 seconds.
Reduce speed to medium; with mixer running, add oil in slow, steady stream, being careful to pour oil against inside of bowl.
Increase speed to high and mix until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 45 seconds to 1 minute longer.
Turn off mixer and stir in carrots and dry ingredients by hand until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.
Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time.
Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.
To Assemble the Cake
Place bottom layer on cake stand. Remove cheesecake from freezer, unwrap, and remove from metal bottom, then peel off parchment paper. Place cheesecake layer on top of the bottom layer of the carrot cake.
If the cheesecake is wider than the cake, and it is necessary to to trim it, wait approximately 10 minutes for the cheesecake to soften, then trim it with a knife. Place top layer of cake on top of the cheesecake, and coat with a generous layer of the cream cheese frosting to act as the crumb coat.
Refrigerate approximately 30 minutes, then frost with as much of the remaining frosting as necessary. Coat this sides of the cake with toasted pecan if desired
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Cheesecake layer adapted from Martha Stewart, Carrot Cake layers from Cooks Illustrated
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
These look fantastic and are so festive!
Oh my, these look divine! I recently made something similar, but with no chocolate – just a pumpkin batter with cream cheese topping. But I definitely think I must try these too.
These are absolutely beautiful!
Look wonderful!
These look awesome. I just wish it made a bigger pan!
They’re pretty rich, but I would imagine you could just double it and make it in a 9×13 pan if you wanted!
I made pumpkin spice brownies on Friday and they were delish so I bet these are EVEN BETTER! Thanks for sharing and I’ll be following your tweaks!
~ingrid
i always make a pumpkin cheesecake in the fall with a ginger cookie crumb crust, but i’m liking the chocolate component in your recipe even more.
oh yum – love pumpkin, and the chocolate/pumpkin combo looks wonderful!
These look great! Is there a way I can make them non-dairy? Something I can sub the cream cheese for? Thanks!
Heather – I’ve had great luck subbing Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese in cheesecake recipes in the past. I think that would definitely work and you could use Earth Balance in the brownie portion. Let me know how it turns out if you try it.
Hi Jenn! I just wanted to let you know that you won the giveaway on my blog last week. I emailed you, but never got a response. Could you email me your mailing address to jennharton@paducah.com. I have to pass it along to myblogspark so they can send you your prize package!
Thanks, Jen…I’ll let you know how they come out!
OH wow these do look delicious! I love all that swirled pumpkin…yum!
Those look amazing!
Wow, I love these! My husband would die of happiness of I made these for him – pumpkin cheesecake is his favorite thing for fall.
They look like tiger fur – very cool! What an interesting flavour combination.
We love these at my house! I like your idea of dark chocolate – I will have to try that next time.
beautiful! And they look so delicious!! I agree I don’t normally think of pumpkin with chocolate… but you have me convinced!
The tops of these are a work of art! Love it!
Three of my favorite thi ngs in one dessert! Chocolate and pumpkin and cheesecake! How perfect…
~Nancy
Three of my favorite thi ngs in one dessert! Chocolate and pumpkin and cheesecake! How perfect…
~Nancy
hi.. just dropping by here… have a nice day! http://kantahanan.blogspot.com/
The side-view shot totally won me over. These look delicious!
This looks so yummy.
I now know what to make for the office potluck!
Those look amazing. I love pumpkin with chocolate, I plan on making these soon.
Your brownies look delicious! I am curious since I would like mine to taste more like pumpkin pie than plain pumpkin should i add pumpkin pie spices or follow your recipe for the spices?
Thanks!
fawkes – There are a decent amount of spices in the pumpkin portion of the batter. I would recommend making is as the recipe states, then taste it before you pour it into the pan. Maybe then add some pumpkin pie spice if you’d like.
I made these over the weekend and they were scrumptious!! I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin but this recipe is now a fall staple. I plan on making them for the family on Thanksgiving…thanks for sharing this!
I made these the other day and they were great! a hit at work! yum! thanks!
I stumbled across your blog from a Facebook friend and made these brownies last night. DELICIOUS!! I doubled the recipe and it does just fit in a 9×13 pan and took about 60 mins to bake. It’s worth the wait for them to be chilled in the fridge. The flavors are even more delicious that way.
Oh YUM! And gorgeous, to boot. I never thought pumpkin and chocolate go together either, until I tried it! 🙂 Now I’m hooked. Good idea to double up on the cheesecake layer…you can never have enough pumpkin cheesecake after all!
Thank you so much for participating in our event! These brownies look amazing. They say Halloween to me for sure!
I made these– now I love them! Will be repeated each fall 🙂
Amazing! I loved these so much I played with them a bit and made cranberry cheesecake brownies for my christmas baking.(I didn’t stumble on to these till christmas.) I’ll let you know when I put those up on my blog! With credit to you of course!
Lexi – cranberry cheesecake brownies sound very intriguing. Can’t wait to see them.
Hi Jen! I made these for Heather@BFM’s (comment listed above) birthday and she loved them! Unfortunately I could not find the Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder (I tried 3 stores) so I had to make them with the regular cocoa powder. Can you tell me where you found the Hershey’s Special Dark??
Kasey – I have actually had a hard time finding it as well. I had actually all but given up on it until one day it caught my eye at the grocery store. I proceeded to buy all three containers. I would say just keep an eye out for it and good luck!
1/2 cup of flour seems like very little. Is that correct?
Pup – Yes, that is the correct amount of flour. Most brownie batters have very little flour in them.
Just made these- delicious! I only had the milk chocolate powder, so I’m excited to try it again with the special dark powder.
I doubled the recipe and it perfectly filled a 13×9 pan so you might try it. 🙂 And they are amazing. Also I used margerine not butter and found they were more moist. Happy Baking!
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I made these with my nieces and over all they were pretty good, but something about the pumpkin part tasted off. Still, fun and festive to make!