Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

in #blog5 years ago

No, I did not make this. For the first time in the history of my blog, I have a guest blogger! She is one of my most trusted culinary consultants. My friend, Sandy, is the creator of this cake masterpiece! She used an America’s Test Kitchen recipe, which are always reliable, but she innovated the layered design and added the coconut. And she decorated it so darn pretty, too!

Cake

  • 2 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour, plus 2 Tbsp. for preparing the pans
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 pound (6 to 7 medium) carrots, peeled and grated
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
  • 1 ½ cups toasted, chopped walnuts, plus a couple of walnut halves for decoration
  • 1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut, plus more for decoration

source

Frosting

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 5 tablespoons butter, softened
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ¼ cups confectioner's sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray two eight inch cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Dust the pans with a tablespoon of flour each and rotate the pans to coat the bottom and sides evenly with flour, shaking out the excess.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl.

Place the eggs in the blender with the white and brown sugars. Process for about half a minute until very foamy. Add the vegetable oil through the feed tube with the machine running. The mixture will look thick and lighter in color.

Pour this mixture into the bowl where you mixed the flour. Sprinkle the carrots, walnuts, and coconut on top. Gently mix all ingredients until combined.

Divide the mixture between the two cake pans and immediately place in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a wire rack for at least two hours.

Using a hand mixer, combine the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Add the confectioner's sugar and mix again until smooth about 20 seconds.

To frost, place one of the cakes flat side down onto a plate. Place a little bit of frosting on top of the cake and smooth until even over the surface. Place the other cake flat side up on top of the other cake and frosting. Dollop the frosting around the top of the cake and with a spatula gently push the frosting off of the top. Then with the spatula gently cover the sides of the cake completely with frosting. Then smooth the frosting on top of the cake and make big swirls to decorate.

Place a couple of walnuts evenly spaced around the edge of the cake and sprinkle with a bit of coconut between each walnut. Place a walnut half in the center of the cake and place a bit of coconut all around it in a tiny circle.

Sandy told me that the original recipe said to use parchment paper in the cake pans, but spraying and lightly flouring the pans serves the same purpose, so Sandy saw no need to buy parchment paper. Sandy has a stand mixer and an electric mixer, but I have neither of these. I checked with her, and she agrees that you could do all the mixing by hand as long a you are up to the challenge. You just need to put a little muscle into it, but it can be done! I have never frosted a cake before, but it seems like the cake almost frosts itself using the technique Sandy describes. I can tell you first hand, this is one of the best carrot cakes I have ever eaten, and since she used whole wheat flour, I don't even feel guilty about indulging in it! Thanks for being my first guest blogger Sandy...and for sending me home with a few extra slices of this delicious cake!

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