Carrot Cake Image Used With Permission From Shawna Sellmeyer Of thevividkitchen.com
Citizens! It is a foregone conclusion that the sweet tooth possessed by the unmatched TFD is, well – UNMATCHED! Add in the fact that I am also not a huge fan of the bounty of vegetal offerings proffered by Mother Earth and you get 2 birds killed with one stone in this recipe! There is no finer way to consume a carrot, IMHO, than this – and people have agreed with me for nearly five centuries, it would seem!
The origins of carrot cake are disputed. Published in 1591, there is an English recipe for “pudding in a Carret(sic) root” that is essentially a stuffed carrot, but it includes many elements common to the modern dessert.
These include shortening, cream, eggs, raisins, sweetener (dates and sugar), spices (clove and mace), scraped carrot, and breadcrumbs (in place of flour). Many food historians believe carrot cake originated from such carrot puddings eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages.
This evolution is said to be originated during the Middle Ages when sugar and sweeteners were expensive for most individuals and often hard to find, so many people used carrots as a substitute for sugar.
In volume two of “L’art du cuisinier” (1814), Antoine Beauvilliers, former chef to Louis XVI, included a recipe for a “Gâteau de Carottes,” which was popular enough to be copied verbatum in competitors’ cookbooks. In 1824, Beauvilliers had published in London an English version of his cookbook which includes a recipe for “Carrot Cakes” in a literal translation of his earlier recipe.
Another 19th-century recipe comes from the housekeeping school of Kaiseraugst (Canton of Aargau, Switzerland). According to the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, it is one of the most popular cakes in Switzerland, especially for the birthdays of children.
The popularity of carrot cake was revived in the United Kingdom because of rationing during the Second World War.
Here are some important tips for making a great carrot cake:
USE ROOM TEMPERATURE INGREDIENTS. Run hot water over the eggs to bring them to room temperature. Stick the buttermilk in the microwave for just a few seconds – it really makes a difference!
MAKE IT IN ADVANCE. Try to make the cake and cream cheese frosting at least one day in advance. After the cakes bake, allow them to cool completely. Then wrap them really well in plastic wrap and stick each layer in a ziplock freezer bag. Freeze for up to one month. Or refrigerate for 2-3 days. FYI – Frozen cakes are much easier to frost!
Frosting can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months in a freezer-safe container. Remove the frosting from the fridge about an hour before you’re ready to frost your cake to allow it to come to room temperature.
Tips for the Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting:
Again, it is important that your cream cheese and butter are at room temperature. If your cream cheese is cold, it will be lumpy and those lumps are impossible to get out!
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING FOR PIPING: You will want to get all the wet ingredients combined before adding the sugar. The trick is to NOT overbeat the cream cheese. The more you mix the creamier it gets and the harder it is to pipe. Add the sugar 1 cup at a time to best gauge the consistency as you go.
CREAM CHEESE FOR FROSTING CAKES: When covering a cake with this cream cheese frosting, you can beat for 3-5 minutes additional minutes in your stand mixer. This results in the creamiest cream cheese frosting you will ever try.
My version of this recipe is moist beyond compare and also includes a heretical hint of coconut in the cake, a whisper of almond in the icing and the subtle use of cardamom to supplement the more palate-forward flavor of cinnamon. I also soak my raisins in a sweet dessert wine to both plump them up and give a more complex, adult flavor to the dessert. I prefer Bonny Doon Vin de Glacière dessert wine – which also pairs beautifully with the cake itself. You can buy it here.
The icing can be spread as in a typical carrot cake or piped to make fancy rosettes – the choice is yours, and know that here is a cake for the ages, ! 🙂
4 large eggs at room temperature (TFD prefers duck eggs if you can get them)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup crushed pineapple
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly-ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 ½ cups peeled carrots, finely grated (about 1 lb.)
1 cup finely-chopped walnuts
1 cup golden raisins, ideally soaked in a sweet dessert wine – TFD prefers Bonny Doon Vin de Glacière
***
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup (1 stick or 113g) salted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract
4 cups (512g) confectioners sugar
Finely-chopped pecans
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare two (or three, for three skinny layers) 8 or 9-inch cake pans by lightly coating with cooking spray and lining with parchment paper or wax paper.
Beat the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oils, buttermilk, vanilla, and pineapple together in a large bowl.
In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, salt and nutmeg.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
Fold in the carrots, walnuts and raisins just until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake on the center oven rack until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. A few crumbs are what you want for a MOIST cake! About 30-40 minutes for two 9” cake pans or 25-30 minutes for three 9” cake pans.
Allow cakes to cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes before inverting them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Place room temperature butter, cream cheese, and vanilla into mixer and blend for 1-2 minutes on medium until fully incorporated.
Add confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, until frosting is light and creamy. Whip cream cheese frosting for 3-5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
Cover cake in frosting.
To assemble the cake:
Place the bottom layer on a cardboard round on serving plate. Scoop about ½ cup of the cream cheese frosting onto the bottom cake layer.
Spread the frosting thinly and evenly over the surface and out to the edge of the cake. repeat with remaining cake layers.
Spread frosting around the sides of the cake, adding more as needed, until it’s covered. Use the palm of your hand to cup chopped pecans around the edge of the cake, if desired.
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