Carrot Cake
Instant Pot carrot cake with a soft cream cheese frosting. When "baking" in a pressure cooker you are actually steaming with wet heat, so a rubber spatula (not a mixer) after adding the flour keeps the crumb tender.
Nutrition
Ingredients
| 1/2 cup | 120 ml | butter, room temperature (cake) |
| 1 cup | 240 ml | sugar |
| 2 | eggs | |
| 1 tsp | 5 ml | vanilla extract |
| 1 tsp | 5 ml | ground cinnamon |
| 1/4 tsp | 1.3 ml | ground nutmeg |
| 1/8 tsp | 0.6 ml | ground cloves |
| 3/4 tsp | 3.8 ml | sea salt |
| 4 oz | 115 g | carrots, finely grated |
| 2 cup | 480 ml | self-rising flour |
| 8 oz | 225 g | cream cheese, room temperature (frosting) |
| 1/2 cup | 120 ml | butter, room temperature (frosting) |
| 1 tsp | 5 ml | vanilla extract (frosting) |
| 1/2 tsp | 2.5 ml | sea salt (frosting) |
| 2 cup | 480 ml | powdered sugar |
Instructions
Cake:
- Add butter and sugar to large mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, "cream" together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add eggs and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Next, add spices and mix until fully combined.
- Add carrots to bowl and mix together with a rubber spatula. At this point, the mix will look like it has curdled, but it hasn't.
- Add flour to bowl and mix gently with a rubber spatula until fully combined, making sure to scrape the edges of the bowl.
- Spray a 7x3 cheesecake or springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and spread out as evenly as you can. Cover pan with foil to keep out condensation.
- Add 3-inch trivet and 1 1/2 cups water to cooker. Place pan on top of trivet. Lock lid and cook for 60 minutes at high pressure.
- Once cook time is complete, allow pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes. Then quick-release remaining pressure. Remove pan from cooker and uncover. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Then allow cake to cool to room temperature before icing.
Frosting: 7. Meanwhile... Add cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and salt to mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, whip until fully combined. 8. Then add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, blending completely before adding more. 9. When it's time to add the frosting to the cake, place big spoonfuls in the middle of the top of the cake. Then gently spread outwards. Since the frosting is so soft, you should be able just let it fall over the sides. 10. Once the cake is iced, place in the fridge for 30 minutes so that the frosting sets.
Notes: Once you add the flour, mix with a rubber spatula rather than a mixer — the more you mix flour, the more gluten develops, making the texture more dense. This frosting is very soft, so it will pretty much spread itself; set the iced cake in the fridge for about 30 minutes so it sets and doesn't continue spreading.
FAQs: Cooking for 60 minutes is not overboard because the pan sits on an elevated trivet, so you're steaming rather than boiling. The temperature inside a pressure cooker reaches 212°F, significantly lower than an oven (around 400°F). Do not use store-bought matchstick carrots — they are not fine enough and may yield crunchy carrots; use the smallest grater you have (other than a microplane).