• Spray the 2 (9 inch) round cake pans with Canola cooking spray. Place 2 round pieces of parchment paper fitted to the bottom of the cake pans and spray more cooking spray over the parchment. This helps the cake separate from the cake pan after baking completely intact. Set the prepared pans aside.
  Canola cooking spray
• Make sure the oven rack is in the center of the oven then preheat your oven for 350 degree F.
• In a large mixing bowl, stir the flour, granulated white sugar, baking powder, ground cinnamon, ground ginger (optional), Kosher salt, and baking soda.
  2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups granulated white sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger , 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• In another large mixing bowl, add the beaten eggs, 3 cups finely shredded carrot, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 3/4 cup Canola oil. Stir the mixture until completely combined.
  4 large eggs, 3 cups shredded carrots, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 3/4 cup Canola oil
• Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, stirring in between each addition, until combined. Add an even amount of batter to each prepared baking pan.
• Bake the cake layers in the center rack for 30-35 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a knife or wooden toothpick into the center of the cake and it should come out clean. Cool the cake pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then remove the cake layers from the cake pans and allow to cool completely on the wire racks. Remove and discard the parchment paper. The cake must be completely cooled before applying the frosting.
• When the cake is completely cool, if the cake needs to be leveled you can now level with a bread knife. This allows you to stack the layers evenly when assembling. If the layers are pretty flat, it is not necessary to level the cake layers.

To Make the Cream Cheese Frosting

• In a stand mixer (or using a hand held electric mixer), in a large mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese, unsalted butter, and pure vanilla extract until combined.
  8 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Gradually mix in the sifted confectioner's sugar, sprinkling 1/2 cup at a time until the mixture is smooth.
  5-6 cups confectioner's sugar
• Reserve 1/2 cup of frosting to pipe on the carrots, and 1/4 cup to pipe the leaves (if desired). You can place them all in separate bowls.
• To color the 1/2 cup of frosting for the carrot decor, add 2 drops of orange food coloring and 1 drop yellow.
• To color the 1/4 cup of frosting for the leaves, add 1 drop green and 1 drop yellow.
• Set your frosting aside until ready to frost the cake. If you have some time until frosting the cake, you can refrigerate it but make sure it is room temperature before frosting. It usually takes a 1/2 hour to become room temperature after removing from the refrigerator.

To Assemble the Carrot Cake

• Add the first layer to the cake turntable or cake stand. Add frosting to the top of the layer and spread it out so that it hangs over the edge. Add the 2nd layer. Add enough frosting so that it hangs over the edge. Add dollops of frosting to the sides and using a bench scraper, cake comb and/or offset spatula spread the frosting on the sides.
• To create a crumb coat look as seen in our photos, it's easiest to use a turntable. Using a bench scraper, gently rotate around the cake removing excess frosting. Scrape excess frosting into a bowl. Repeat a couple times until you achieve the desired level of "nakedness" on your cake.

To Decorate

• Place twelve pecan halves around the perimeter of the cake. The pecans are a good indicator as to where you should pipe the carrots on. Sprinkle with additional chopped pecans.
  12 pecan halves, 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• Using a Wilton tip 10 or similar, begin piping the carrots. You can use the pecan halves as a marker for where to pipe each carrot. Start with gentle pressure then apply more pressure as you elongate the carrot. Doing so will create ridges and enlarge the carrot as seen in the photos. The "thick end" of the carrot should be in the centermost part of the cake.
• Using a Wilton tip 5 for the leaves, simply pipe two lines from the thick end of your carrots.