Carrot Cake
Credit: Ben Fink
FOR THE CAKE:
1 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 1⁄2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose
flour
1 cup sugar
1 1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp. ground cloves
1⁄2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1⁄2 tsp. ground allspice
1⁄2 tsp. salt
2⁄3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1⁄2 lbs. carrots, peeled, trimmed,
and grated (about 4 cups)
FOR THE FROSTING:
12 oz. cream cheese
7 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350º. Grease two 8" round cake pans with butter, dust each with 1 tbsp. of the flour, tapping out excess, and set aside.
2. Combine the remaining flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a large bowl. Add oil and eggs and stir until smooth. Add carrots and mix well. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Set aside to let cool on a rack, then remove cakes from pans.
3. For the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until smooth. Reduce speed and beat in sugar.
4. Put 1 cake round on a cake plate; spread one-third of the frosting on top. Set the remaining cake round on top; ice cake with the remaining frosting.
MAKES ONE 8" CAKE
It's also not exactly a "pretty" cake. It's almost impossible to frost without getting crumbs all over the place. I don't know what to do to fix this. It's very crumbly and falls apart easily. So you would have to cut thick slices when serving.
But in the end, the cake tasted AMAZING and that's what matters I guess.
I had no trouble with the recipe but did add a few minutes to baking time. In order to frost it without accessive crumbs: once the cake is cool..wrap in cling film and place in freezer to firm up( 1/2 hour or so) then bring almost to room temp., and then frost it. It's a cake designers secret to keeping the crumbs to a minimum. Also helps to make the first layer (a crumb coating) of frosting by dividing the frosting in half and adding more liquid to it so it's a little thinner in consistancy, then cool cake again in fridge then frost over it with the remaining thicker batch of frosting. This works for any cake that requires frostings.