Thursday, September 24, 2009

Carrot Cake


I have never been a huge fan of carrot cake, because of all the chunks. I was intrigued when I saw a recipe that called for carrot baby food. I liked the puree idea, but jarred baby food just tastes NASTY and that won't do.
America's Test Kitchen came to the rescue again. I've made this cake twice in the last couple weeks. Grating the carrots takes a little while... I'd be interested to see how the food processor does.

Carrot Cake

2 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large eggs, room temp
1 1/2 C. granulated sugar
1/2 C. packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 C. veg oil
1 lb. carrots, peeled and grated

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat the oven to 350. Lightly coat a 9 by 13 cake pan with veg oil spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside. Whisk the eggs and sugars together in a large bowl until frothy and the sugar is mostly dissolved, about 1 min. While whisking, slowly add the oil until the mixture is thoroughly combined, about 1 min. Whisk in the flour mixture til no streaks remain. Stir in the carrots. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until center of cake is done, 40-50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack about two hours. Run a knife around edges of pan, invert the cake on a cooling rack, peel off the parchment, then invert again onto a serving platter.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
5 T. unsalted butter, softened
1 T. sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 C. powdered sugar

Mix the cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla with an electric mixer til combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix til smooth. Frost, and dive in!
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2 comments:

The Standrings said...

my mom's carrot cake recipe is the best i've ever had and it calls for the baby food carrots. it's really good! (i don't like the chunks either.)

Bipolar friends and family and more said...

Mmmmmm yummy .