Carrots, spice and everything nice!

One of my absolute favorite cakes in the entire world is carrot cake. It actually surprises me how much I love it now considering how much I despised it as a child. But I guess most children aren’t too keen on vegetables in their cake…at least, I wasn’t.

Then I grew up. My tastes matured. I learned to love mushrooms and olives and even became quite tolerant of onions and eggplant – all foods I hated when I was little. I also fell in love with carrot cake. But I think I was spoiled because my first carrot cake experience was so good that I’ve become a bit of a carrot cake snob. I’m very picky when it comes to carrot cake now – it has to be moist, but not too dense, with just enough spice and sweetness. Not to mention copious amounts of cream cheese icing.

Oh, and no raisins. I like raisins in some things, but NOT carrot cake. I get furious when people put raisins in carrot cake.

Yeah…I’m weird like that.

But anyways, I’ve strived to find a great carrot cake recipe…and I think I’ve finally found it. At least, for now. It’s from a cookbook of comfort food by real mothers and I have to say, it’s pretty darn amazing. The secret is purée-ing the carrots, as opposed to shredding them. It gives the cake a ton of moisture and just enough of that signature taste. I also upped the spices a bit and took out the walnuts – only because I didn’t have any. Otherwise, they would’ve been in there. Walnuts are a must in carrot cake for me…except when I have none and I’m desperately craving it but it is -30 out and I refuse to leave my house. In other words, only in extreme circumstances do the walnuts get left out.

But enough yacking about carrot cake, how about you go make some? Here, I’ll even give you the recipe.

Carrot Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
(Adapted from my “Mother’s Best Comfort Food” cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 pound carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (about 4 medium carrots)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut
3 cups walnuts (divided)

Directions:

Fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water. Set over high heat and bring to a boil. Place the sliced carrots in a steamer basket and set over the saucepan. Cover and steam the carrots until very tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. (You can also bring a pot of water to a boil, add the carrots, cover, and cook until tender – that’s what I did.) Place the carrots in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and purée until smooth (I used my magic bullet). You should have 1 1⁄3 cups puréed carrots.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 13x9x2-inch baking dish or two 9-inch cake pans with oil. Sprinkle in a little flour and turn the pan(s) to evenly coat the greased areas.

Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt into a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, mix the oil and sugar until combined. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla and carrots and beat for another minute. Slowly add in the sifted dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Stir in the coconut and 1 cup of the walnuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake in the center of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake is pulling away from the sides of the pan(s). Remove the pan(s) from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. After 15 minutes, place a cooling rack(s) over the pan(s) and invert (so the cake falls out of the pan and onto the rack). Cool the cake for at least 1 hour before frosting.


Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

2 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until combined. Slowly add icing sugar, and beat until it’s at the consistency you want.


Now, all you have to do is frost your cake and eat up! Warning...this makes alot of cake...and you may be tempted to eat it all. I was. My thighs are hating me right now.