Vertical Carrot Cake

I crossed the bridge to Anapra on Wednesday. The weekly visit. Lupita's conchas are excellent — eight years of practice, eight years of Rosa's recipe in her hands. The neighborhood women come at dawn. The children come after school. The bakery is what I dreamed it would be: a place that smells like home in a neighborhood that needed home.

Leaving Anapra, I always carry something back with me — the smell of warm bread, the sound of the women talking before sunrise, the feeling that a recipe given with love keeps multiplying. I’ve been baking more at home since Rosa’s conchas reminded me what consistency looks like: showing up, same hands, same dough, every week. This vertical carrot cake has become my version of that — a little ambitious, a little tender, the kind of thing you make not for a special occasion but because the Tuesday of it, the ordinariness of it, is exactly the point.

Prep Time: 40 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups finely grated carrots (about 4 medium carrots)
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Prepare the pans. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 10x15-inch jelly roll pans and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment and dust lightly with flour.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Set aside.
Mix wet ingredients. In a large bowl, beat eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until pale and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stream in the vegetable oil while mixing, then add the vanilla extract.
Combine. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the grated carrots, drained pineapple, and walnuts if using. Do not overmix.
Bake the sheets. Divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans, spreading to an even layer. Bake 20–25 minutes, until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in the pans on wire racks.
Make the frosting. Beat cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and salt. Beat on high for 1 minute until very light.
Roll and assemble. Spread a generous layer of frosting over the surface of each cooled cake sheet. Starting from the short end, carefully roll one sheet into a tight log. Place the end of this first log at the beginning of the second frosted sheet, and continue rolling the second sheet around the first log to form one large vertical spiral roll.
Frost and chill. Stand the roll on its end on a serving plate so the spiral faces up. Frost the outside with remaining cream cheese frosting. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before slicing to allow the layers to set.
Serve. Slice vertically to reveal the spiral layers. Garnish with extra chopped walnuts or a dusting of cinnamon if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Vertical Carrot Cake — The Kind of Baking That Turns a Neighborhood Into a Home