Dorie Greenspan's Carrot Cake

Salutations! Once again, I've somehow allowed months to lapse in between posts. It's not like I've been super busy or anything. Despite being back at uni for almost a month now, I'm still getting my full 8-hours of sleep each night, and taking the time to go for walks, and baking two-layered carrot cakes. Isn't that just disgusting? I should be ashamed to call myself a student.

Photo courtesy of the UNSW Baking Society

I've posted a recipe for carrot cake before, but that particular one has nothing, NOTHING on the one I share with you today. THIS is the mother of all carrot cakes. Once I had my first bite, I knew for certain that this would be the start of a beautiful and complex relationship - between myself, and the most perfect, most gorgeous, most sublime carrot cake on earth. I know that bakers (especially ones who blog about their handiwork) have a tendency to throw in superlatives like they're going out of fashion, but merely calling this the "best" carrot cake recipe would be to do it a supreme injustice (and there I go again...)

I made this cake for a very special occasion indeed. Did you know that the University of New South Wales, my residence away from home for the past three-going-on-four years, has it's own baking society? It's mind-blowing, isn't it. A baking society, dedicated to all things cake and baked, right there on my doorstep. Well, BakeSoc, as it is known, had it's first event of the year a few days ago; a Welcome Brunch for the members. We were invited to bring something (preferably home-baked, of course!) to share with one another. Dorie Greenspan's recipes are always a safe bet when it comes to taste and presentation, and so it was her "Bill's Big Carrot Cake" that I offered up to my fellow cake-lovers.

And the rest is history. This cake features toasted nuts and dried coconut slivers in the batter, which makes for an exciting mouthful. I used mixed nuts - a combination of walnuts, macadamias, cashews, brazil nuts, hazelnuts and almonds. By all means, stick with one type, but that was what I had lying around. 

Photo courtesy of the UNSW Baking Society

If you compare the inside of this cake with that of my previous carrot cake recipe, you'll immediately be able to tell that this one is a lot fluffier and less dense. The reason for that, I believe, is the fact that I grated the carrots more coarsely this time round. I suspect that I grated the carrots too finely for the other cake, resulting in a dense, pudding-like texture. Don't be alarmed by the size of the carrot pieces when you use a coarse grater on them! Yes, they'll show up quite visibly in the baked cake and yes, people will be able to tell there are carrots in there (a potentially alarming concept for the uninitiated). But for those who have experienced the wonder that is a well-made carrot cake in the past, cutting into this cake will prompt all those fond memories (of tea at Grandma's, of cafe brunches, of chillaxed afternoons sipping tea at a girlfriend's place) to re-enter into their consciousness and, awash in the waves of nostalgia, the will turn to you with shining eyes and whisper "what a marvelous, marvelous thing it is you have done."

Photo courtesy of UNSW BakeSoc

Okay, so maybe I've been indulging in one too many Jodi Picoult novels. But bringing the cake to a dinner party or afternoon tea will guarantee you a dramatic entrance. Double-layered and generously covered with thick, cream cheese frosting, it's home-baked charm at it's best. Dorie's version consists of three cake layers, but I chose to go with two because my cake pans are slightly larger and there wasn't even batter for three. I also halved the amount of icing sugar that went into the frosting. Dorie, you've made me a fan for life with this recipe, but a whole pound of icing sugar?! Trust me on this, guys - go with half a pound (250g) lest your teeth fall out :D

Bill's Big Carrot Cake 2.0

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: from my home to yours

Ingredients

(Makes a 2-layered 23cm cake)

For the cakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups coarsely grated carrots

1 cup coarsely chopped toasted/roasted mixed nuts (unsalted)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup dried cranberries

2 cups white granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil (anything mild-flavoured is fine; I used olive but canola or safflower is also okay)

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the frosting:

250g cream cheese, at room temperature

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

250g confectioners' or icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For decoration:

8 walnut halves

Method

To make the cakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius (or 325 degrees Fahrenheit). Place the baking rack towards the lower one-third of the oven. Prepare two round cake pans (23cm in diameter) by lining with baking paper or aluminium foil.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the grated carrots, chopped nuts, coconut and dried cranberries.

3. Cream together the oil and sugar until smooth with a hand electric beater, or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one by one, and continue to beat until the batter is smooth and thick. Add the flour mixture, and stir into the egg mixture by hand until just combined. Add the carrot, chopped nuts etc., and stir in until everything is combined.

4. Divide the batter between the two cake pans. Place into oven, and bake for 50-60 minutes. Cake is done baking when a skewer or cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in pans for 5 minutes, before inverting onto cooling racks. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting

To make the frosting:

5. Using a hand electric beater or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gradually add in the sifted icing sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is smooth and aerated.

To assemble and serve the cake:

6. Put one cake layer on a cardboard cake round or plate. Dollop on half the cream cheese frosting, and smooth over the cake evenly with a spatula. Put the second cake layer on top, and on top of that dollop on the rest of the frosting. Smooth evenly with a spatula. Decorate with the walnut halves.

7. Chill the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (preferably overnight) to firm up the icing. Take the cake out of the fridge 15 minutes prior to serving. The frosted cake will last for 5 days in the fridge, and the oil in the batter means that it won't dry out if covered. Cake tastes the best 1-2 days after it's made!

Super Moist Carrot Cake

Could it be that "retro" is making a comeback in the baking world? Maybe it's the influence of a recent delightful visit to The Tea Parlour for a friend's 21st (review soon to follow, hopefully!), but lately, I've been craving simple tea cakes, scones, and slices - basically, the stuff you find in a Australian Women's Weekly cookbook. And so it was in the spirit of "everything old is new again" that I made this delicious and super moist carrot cake.

The carrot cake and I go waaay back. In fact, it was the first cake that I baked from scratch, as the final assessment for a Design and Technology course in Year 8. I remember that class very clearly. In the weeks leading up to it, we'd been put through the paces in basic cookery with various old-school Aussie favourites: chocolate chip cookies, butterfly cakes, etc. For our assessment, we were given an hour and a half to complete a recipe of our choice, working in groups of threes. Come to think of it, it was kinda like a Masterchef team challenge!

Anyway, the carrot cake turned out fantastically, and the cream cheese frosting left so deep an impression on my naive palate that it remains my favourite type of frosting to this day. My fellow team members and I proudly presented a generous slice of cake to the lovely ladies down at reception. The rest we split between the three of us. As I recall, it was a GINORMOUS cake that we made, and my share lasted for days.

And so I have very fond memories of the carrot cake. This particular one wasn't frosted due to time constraints, but I imagine that the maple cream cheese frosting I made for my browned butter apple pound cake a while back would have been perfect for this. The recipe I used for this carrot cake utilised ghee instead of the usual vegetable oil. I do believe that either choice would be fine in the cake. I would describe the texture of this cake as extremely moist; almost pudding like. I was worried that it would be too sweet when I tasted the batter (raw eggs don't scare me! xD), but the baked cake was not very sweet at all. Which means that you can pile on the cream cheese frosting extra thick!

Recipe for a Super Moist Carrot Cake

Adapted from Guilty Kitchen

Recipe yields one 22cm x 12cm loaf AND 7 cupcakes, OR one 9-inch two-layer cake

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup ghee, melted
1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup whole milk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 1/2 cups finely grated carrot (I used five carrots)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (or 350 degrees Fahrenheit). Grease and flour a 22cm x 12cm loaf tin, or line it with aluminium foil. You can reserve leftover batter for another thinner loaf, or make cupcakes out of it.

2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir in the brown sugar, white sugar, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, powdered ginger and salt. Use the back of the spoon to break up any lumps formed by the brown sugar.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs into the melted ghee, one by one. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste. Stir in the grated carrots.

4. Combine the dry and wet ingredients, and mix until incorporated and smooth. Be careful not to overmix.

5. Pour the batter into the loaf tin, filling it 3/4 full.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until skewer inserted into centre of the loaf comes out clean. If the top of your cake gets too brown, cover the cake loosely with a piece of foil for the final 10 minutes of baking.

7. Once done baking, remove from oven and allow cake to cool in tin for 10 minutes. Remove from tin, and let cake finish cooling off on a cooling rack.

To make cupcakes:


1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius (or 350 degrees Fahrenheit).

2. Line muffin tray with cupcake liners.

3. Fill liners 3/4 full with batter.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

5. Allow cupcakes to cool in tray for 10 minutes, before attempting to move them onto cooling racks.