Carrot Cake
Tomorrow is
the one year anniversary of The Intuitive Baker blog and so I wanted
to share a special recipe with you. I found this Carrot Cake recipe
many years ago in an issue of Fine Cooking magazine and ever since
then, I have been making it by request for friends and family at
seemingly every birthday, holiday, etc. I cannot stress enough the
importance of using good, high quality ingredients to make it,
however. I say this because I once gave the recipe to someone who
made their cake with cheap, low quality ingredients and when I tried
their end result, it was nearly unrecognizable.
I would
like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who reads
this blog. I have enjoyed a really great year of writing for you and
I look forward to another year to come. Please leave me a comment to
let me know what you think.
Notes:
This cake requires at least 4 hours of refrigeration after completion
so I would recommend baking it the day before you plan to serve it.
Or, start it in the morning if you want to serve it in the late
afternoon or evening. Before starting this recipe, lay out your
eggs, cream cheese, and butter to bring them to room
temperature/soften them. Next, prepare your carrots. For this
process, I like to use the shred/grate attachment on my stand mixer
or food processor because it is much faster than grating them by
hand. Proceed with the recipe.
Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups
flour
2 teaspoons
cinnamon
1 ¾
teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon
nutmeg
¾ teaspoon
ginger
¾ teaspoon
salt
1 cup olive
oil
4 eggs
1 ½
teaspoons vanilla
2 cups
light brown sugar
2 ½ cup
finely grated carrots (about 6 to 7 large carrots)
Preheat
oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9 by 13 inch pan and set aside.
Stir together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, and
salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer, combine the
oil, eggs, and vanilla for 20 seconds on medium low speed, then add
the brown sugar and mix for another 20 seconds. Scrape down the
bowl, add the carrots, and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add
half of the dry ingredients, mix for 20 seconds on low speed, scrape
down the bowl, then add the remaining dry ingredients and mix just
until blended. Pour the batter into the oiled pan and bake for 35 to
45 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center
comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
Cream
Cheese Frosting Ingredients*:
16 ounces
(1 pound) cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cup
butter, softened
4 cups
powdered sugar, sifted
4 teaspoons
vanilla
¾ teaspoon
salt
Beat
together the cream cheese and butter on medium speed for about 1
minute in a stand mixer or with a hand-held mixer. Add the remaining
ingredients and beat on medium high speed for 2 minutes. Frost the
cake and then refrigerate it for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.
*Note:
This recipe makes a LOT of frosting. I mean, even if I spread on a
very thick layer of frosting, I still have some left over. This is
good news for people who love frosting but for people who don't, just
cut the recipe in half. (My family and I like to spread leftover
frosting on graham crackers.)
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