Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

PREPARE CAKE: Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line the bottom of a spring form pan with parchment paper and spray the sides and bottom of pan with baking spray. I used an 8-inch x 4-inch round spring form pan.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, affixed with the paddle attachment, add the oil and brown sugar. Beat the mixture on medium-high speed until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating each egg into the mixture thoroughly before adding the next egg. Add vanilla extract and greek yogurt and beat thoroughly into mixture.

With the mixture on low speed, add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt to the wet ingredients and mix on low only until ingredients are barely incorporated.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the finely grated carrots and pecan pieces by hand to the mixture, gently folding them in. Pour batter into prepared spring form pan and bake in 350-degree oven for 45-50 minutes.

Bake time will depend on the size spring form pan you use. I used an 8-inch spring form pan and my cake took 50-minutes to bake. Start checking cake after 35-minutes, by inserting a toothpick in the middle. Cake is done when toothpick comes out without raw batter on it.

Let cake cool completely before frosting.

PREPARE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cream cheese and beat the cream cheese using the paddle attachment, until smooth and creamy. Add the butter to the cream cheese and beat on medium-high until combined and creamy.

Turn the mixer to low speed and add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, heavy whipping cream and salt. Once all ingredients are incorporated, beat on medium-high speed for 3-minutes until light and fluffy. You may need to add a little more heavy whipping cream or powdered sugar in order to get your desired consistency.

Once cake has cooled, use a bread knife to level the top of the cake. Invert the cake onto a cake dish and remove the parchment round from the bottom of the cake. Dump the frosting out onto the top of the cake and use an icing spatula to spread the frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Garnish with more pecan pieces.