Carrot Cake Cheesecake (2024)

• Carrots: Finely grated carrots are the key to tender, moist carrot cake because they release moisture as they bake. Don’t use pre-packaged carrots because they are too thick and are bone dry. It’s best to measure the carrots by weight instead of by volume to ensure accuracy.
• Flour: Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level (as opposed to scooping the flour up with a measuring cup), to avoid baking a super dense cake. I use all purpose flour, but it will also work with gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour.
• Sugars: Brown sugar adds sweetness, moisture and warm molasses undertones and granulated sugar rounds out the sweetness.
• Baking soda + baking powder: These work together to tenderize the cake and provide the perfect amount of lift. Make sure your leaveners are fresh so they work!
• Spices:Warm, fragrant spices ofground cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and saltmakethe cake. They infuse the recipe with nutty, earthy, slightly sweet and spicy notes.
• Oil:Use canola, vegetable, or melted coconut oil. Oil is used rather than butter because it creates moister carrot cake. Butter is traditionally used for its flavor, but this recipe is already chock full of flavor thanks to the spices, pineapple and pecans, so you won’t even miss it.
• Eggs:These provide structure and moisture. Use room temperature eggs because they blend with the other ingredients more easily so you don’t mistakenly overmix the batter.
• Crushed pineapple: Use crushed pineapple packedin juiceand not syrup because the syrup makes the pineapple too sweet. Drain the pineapple well in a fine mesh sieve before using. I like to freeze the extra juice for smoothies or acai bowls.
• Nuts: These are optional but highly recommended! I typically use raw pecans in my carrot cake, but walnuts will also work. Buy them raw and chop them up in your food processor so they are finely ground (takes seconds!), so they evenly disperse throughout the batter for a subtle, savory nutty flavor to contrast the sweetness.
• Vanilla Greek yogurt: You can use regular or low-fat with excellent results. The yogurt adds extra moisture and flavor so our Carrot Cake Cheesecake is extra tender without being oily. You can substitute with additional vegetable oil if you must.
• Vanilla extract:All desserts need a little oomph of vanilla. The better the quality, the better it tastes, so go as quality as you can.

• Cream cheese: I recommend full fat cream cheese but it will also work with less fat, but remember less fat = less flavor and creaminess. Please do NOT use non-fat cream cheese. Also, make sure to use block cream cheese and not the whipped kind in a tub.
• Heavy cream:Also labeled “heavy whipping cream” at the grocery store. You must use heavy cream – no other substitutions will work. Take care that your heavy cream is very cold, remove it from the refrigerator just when ready to use.
• White chocolate: 6 ounces add a little something special to the cheesecake. White baking chocolate bars melt better, but you may also use white chocolate chips, just give them a head start by finely chopping. A great time saving trick is to chop them in your food processor.
• Unflavored gelatin:This is a common baking ingredient and can be found next to the packages of Jell-O and pudding at your grocery store. It is what adds structure to the cheesecake without baking with eggs.
• Sugar:Granulated sugar sweetens the cheesecake.
• Lemon juice:This cuts through the sweetness and amplifies the flavors. Bottled or fresh is fine.
• Vanilla extract:Use quality extract for best results.

• Cream cheese:Use a full fat block of cream cheese and not spreadable cream cheese otherwise your frosting will be too soft. The cream cheese should be softened to room temperature at room temperature, or again, your frosting will be sloppy and not hold its shape.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter so we can salt the frosting ourselves. Soften the butter to room temperature at room temperature.
• Powdered sugar: Use only powdered sugar otherwise the frosting will taste grainy.
• Pineapple preserves: This is optional but elevates the recipe to next level! You should be able to find pineapple preserves with the rest of the jams at your grocery store, otherwise, order it on Amazon here. If you omit the pineapple preserves, use slightly less sugar (more sugar is needed with the preserves for added structure).
• Salt:Use more or less to taste to cuts through the sweetness of the frosting.
• Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.

• Mix the Dry and Wet ingredients in separate bowls.Mixing the ingredients separately ensures everything is evenly dispersed, especially the leaveners. It also helps to not overmix the eggs once combined with the flour which can activate the gluten and cause dense, dry cake.

• Fold the Dry and Wet ingredients together.Use a rubber spatula (or I love myrubber spatula spoon) and fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, just until you don’t see any large streaks of flour. A few streaks are okay, because they will be incorporated when you add the carrots. Fold the carrots into the batter just until evenly combined. If you’re adding chopped pecans (not the ground ones in this recipe), raisins, or coconut, you’ll fold them into the batter at this time.

• Bake the cakes: Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans. It helps to weigh the pans to ensure the batter is evenly divided. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Cool the cakes: After 15 minutes, remove the cake layers from the pans and let cool for about 2 hours on a wire rack.

• Melt white chocolate with gelatin. Sprinkle gelatin over ½ cup cream in small saucepan, give it a stir, then let sit for 5 minutes. Thishydrates the gelatin and ensures a smooth texture. Cook mixture over low heat until edges are just bubbling. Add white chocolate and cook, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Let it cool slightly while you proceed with the next steps.

• Beat cream cheese and heavy cream.Beat remaining cream in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form; set aside. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

• Combine white chocolate, cream cheese, and heavy cream.Reduce speed to medium-low and add white chocolate mixture to the cream cheese and mix until just combined, scraping down bowl as needed. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in the whipped cream.

• Add cake to springform pan. Set 1 cake round in a parchment paper lined springform pan top side up.
• Add cheesecake. Spread the cheesecake filling over the cake round in the springform pan.
• Top cheesecake. Place reserved cake round, cut side down, over the cheesecake.
• Chill. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours, up to overnight, to set the cheesecake.

• Make the frosting: Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat butter and powdered sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese one piece at a time, and continue to beat until incorporated. Beat in vanilla, pineapple preserves and salt.
• Frost: Remove the cake from the springform pan. Because the cake is chilled, you shouldn’t need to make a crumb coat. Simply frost the cake with a layer of frosting as desired. I also like to add a sprinkling of chopped pecans on top for decoration.
• Serve: Slice, bite and swoon!

TIPS FOR making this recipe

This Carrot Cake Cheesecake has several steps, but please don’t be intimidated! Each step is simple and the end result is spectacular! Here are some helpful tips for ultimate success:

• Don’t pack flour. Whenever you measure flour, don’t scoop it into the flour bag/container or else the flour will compress and packed flour yields denser, drier cakes. Rather, scoop flour into a measuring cup and then level.
• Drain the pineapple.Add crushed pineapple to a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and push down on pineapple with a spoon to eliminate excess moisture. This ensures that you and I both have roughly the same moisture content in our cakes.
• Use room temperature eggs. Room temperature eggs bind together more easily and whisk to a higher volume. This promotes more even distribution into the batter resulting in a light, fluffy carrot cake (because eggs trap air). Cold eggs result in a denser cake. Room temperature eggs also create a runnier batter which is easier to spread/not overwork so the cake has more lift and rises more evenly.
• How to quickly bring eggs to room temperature: Fill a bowl with warm water (not hot) and add eggs and let sit for 10-20 minutes.
• Don’t overmix the cake batter. Overmixing cake batter causes the gluten in the flour to form elastic gluten strands which result in a dense, chewy texture.
• Use the correct pan size.It is important to use 9-inch round cake pans and not 8-inch cake pans because we are going to assemble the cake in a 9-inch springform pan which needs to match. 9-inch diameter also creates a more pleasing ratio of cheesecake to cake.
• Silicone baking mats are awesome! If you make cakes often, it might be worth investing in reusable silicone baking mats,I have them in every cake size! They save you the time and hassle of cutting out parchment paper every time. I got mine on Amazon here.
• Use cooking spray with flour. It is so quick and easy to use and saves you the hassle and mess of greasing and flouring your pans. You should be able to find it at your local grocery store in the baking aisle.
• Use soft cream cheese for cheesecake. The cream cheese should be soft enough that it can easily beat into a creamy consistency. If it is not soft enough, then it will yield lumpy cheesecake and will leave white specks. It is okay to microwave cream cheese for the cheesecake but not for the frosting.
• Beat cream cheese until fluffy. It’s crucial to beat the cream cheese for the filling until light and fully with your paddle attachment – about 3 minutes. Three minutes can seem like a long time, so set your timer and don’t stop early! Beating the cream cheese creates lusciously smooth and creamy cheesecake.
• Don’t let the white chocolate harden. After melting the white chocolate, immediately beat the whipped cream and cream cheese so you can add the white chocolate before it hardens. If it does harden, return to heat over low until pourable consistency.
• Whip to stiff peaks.Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form to help provide structure to the no-bake cheesecake filling. “Stiff peaks” simply means the whipped cream will stand straight up when the beaters are removed and not curl at the tips.
• It’s okay if there are gaps in your pan. If your carrot cake doesn’t quite reach the edges of the 9-inch springform pan, it’s okay. The cheesecake layer may overlap the carrot cake slightly, but you can smooth it out when frosting the cake.
• Use room temperature – NEVER MICROWAVED – butter and cream cheese for the frosting. Plan ahead and use only room temperature butter and cream cheese (17°C/63°F). If they are too soft, your frosting will be too runny/sloppy to hold its shape instead of sturdy and spreadable. I like to cube the ingredients, space them on a plate, and set them outside to soften quickly.
• Adjust the consistency of the frosting. There are several variables when making the frosting such as the temperature/consistency of the butter and cream cheese as well as the pineapple preserves. If your frosting is too runny, add additional powdered sugar until it reaches desired consistency, then flavor with pinches of salt to taste, otherwise it will be too sweet. If the frosting is too thick, beat in one tablespoon of heavy cream at a time until it reaches desired consistency.

recipe and ingredient variations

• Make it gluten-free: Replace the all-purpose flour with gluten-free 1:1 baking flour.
• Swap yogurt:Swap the yogurt in this recipe for vegetable oil, sour cream or unsweetened applesauce instead. These swaps will add moisture but you’ll be missing the vanilla yogurt flavor.
• Use low-fat ingredients: Full-fat cream cheese will deliver the best, creamiest cheesecake. However, you can use low-fat versions, just adjust your expectations.
• Omit the nuts: I adore pecans in my homemade carrot cake, but feel free to omit them, if desired.
• Swap nuts: Use walnuts instead of pecans.
• Add raisins: Raisins can also be added to the cake batter.
• Add coconut: Add up to ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut.
• Oil: If adding coconut, consider using melted coconut oil instead of vegetable oil to really amp up the coconut flavor.

can i freeze carrot cake cheesecake?

Yes! This Carrot Cake Cheesecake recipe freezes very well. You can freeze the cake layers before assembling or freeze the entire cheesecake:

• Tightly double wrap each cake layer separately in plastic wrap.
• Freeze cakes for up to 2 months.
• Allow the cakes to thaw overnight on the counter, then unwrap and come to room temperature before assembling.

• Place chilled cheesecake on a baking sheet then transfer to the freezer. Freeze until firm.
• Remove from the freezer and wrap cheesecake in plastic wrap followed by heavy duty aluminum foil.
• Freeze for up to 1 month for optimal flavor, 2 months is the max.
• To thaw, remove cheesecake from freezer to the refrigerator. Let thaw overnight.
• You can also freeze individual slices using the same method and packaging them separately.

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