Costco’s carrot cake is my favorite cake to bring to
classroom or office parties. It’s
affordable and delicious. And your
friends smile as they swoop a finger through the frosting before stuffing it in
their mouth. What is it about cream
cheese frosting? Peace treaties could be
built on the stuff.
So, when two of my friends told me that carrot cake is their
favorite birthday cake, I decided that it was time to figure out a great recipe. I researched carrot cake and even though George
C. Page created the first carrot cake recipe to get rid of his military surplus of
dehydrated carrots from World War II. I
think that he was onto something brilliant; a moist spice cake filled with
shredded carrots and topped with cream cheese frosting. I flipped through various cookbooks and
searched my favorite food blogs and collected carrot cake recipes. One night standing in line at New Season’s, the cover of Cook’s Illustrated caught my eye and I read about their square carrot cake
and knew that was where I wanted to start.
I decided to bake up three different cakes and have the birthday boy and girl help me tweak a special recipe for each
of them. I baked up the Cook's Illustrated Square Carrot cake, the Bon Appetite carrot cake that Molly Wizenberg posted on her blog Orangette, and tropical carrot
cupcakes filled with rum soaked gold raisins, macadamia nuts, and crystallized
ginger topped with coconut cream cheese frosting. Then I sliced up the cakes,
texted my friends and dropped by their houses to have them sample the cakes and
give me their feedback. Five stops later, we
had come to a consensus and the two carrot cake lovers agreed to the same cake
concept.
The night before the birthday party, I baked the three layer
Bon Appetite Carrot Cake and topped it with Fine Cooking’s cream cheese
frosting and pressed toasted pecans into the sides. The warm evening softened
the frosting to the consistency of toothpaste and I was afraid that the pecans
were going to slide down the sides of the cake into a puddle so I quickly
closed the sides of the cake box and slid it into the fridge. I was relieved that it firmed up nicely. And then I let it rest in the fridge
overnight to help bring all the flavors together.
After the grilled barbecue birthday dinner, we sat out on
the patio enjoying the beautiful evening and smiled and laughed over our slices of
carrot cake. And one of my friends said,
“Laura, this cake is perfect.” And I
thought, we did a great job picking out this cake!
P.S. I'm sorry that I forgot to take pictures of the cakes.
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Toasted Pecans
For the cake:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 (slightly heaping) tsp. baking powder
2 (slightly heaping) tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg—make sure to use the freshly
ground!
¾ tsp. ground ginger
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
½ cup unsweetened applesauce mixed with several spoonful’s of
apple butter*
3 cups finely grated peeled carrots
2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped and
toasted in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.
Position racks in the top and bottom third of the oven, and
preheat to 325°F. Lightly grease 3 (9-inch) round pans with butter or cooking
spray. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper, and then grease the
paper too.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda,
salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Whisk well to blend.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the sugar and oil until
combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well to incorporate after each
addition. Add the applesauce, beating to mix. Add the flour mixture, and beat
to incorporate, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if
needed. Add the carrots and beat briefly.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. (It will
look pretty skimpy, but don’t worry; the cakes will rise nicely in the oven.)
Slide the pans into the oven – I put one on the top rack and two on the bottom
and rotated them once or twice during baking – and bake until the cakes begin
to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center
comes out clean. Bake for 30 minutes or a little less. Check on them at 25 minutes. Cool the cakes
in their pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes; then turn them out onto the rack
to cool completely.
When the cakes are cool, make the frosting.
Cream
Cheese Frosting
by Fine Cooking
1-1/4 lb.
cream cheese, at room temperature
2-1/2 sticks
(1-1/4 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla
extract
1 (2-lb.)
bag confectioners’ sugar (about 7-1/4 cups)
To make the
frosting
Beat the cream
cheese, butter, and vanilla together in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a
large bowl if using a hand mixer) on low speed to combine. Increase the speed
to medium-high and beat until aerated and light, about 2 minutes. Stop the
mixer and add a few cups of the confectioners’ sugar, incorporating it into the
cream cheese mixture on low speed until combined. Repeat with the remaining
sugar, adding it to the mixer in two additions. Once all of the sugar is added,
increase the speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
To assemble the cake, place one layer on a platter or cake
stand. Spread it with ¾ cup frosting. Optional—swipe a layer of apricot jam on
top. Carefully place another layer atop it. Spread with ¾ cup frosting. Top
with the third cake layer, and then spread the remaining frosting over the top
and down the sides. Press the toasted pecans into the side of the cake. Refrigerate
overnight. Serve at room temperature.
Note: You can make the cake layers one day before assembling the
whole cake. Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, and store them at room
temperature. The assembled cake can be prepared up to 2 days before serving.
Store it in the fridge, covered with a cake dome, and allow it to come to room
temperature before serving.
Yield: 10-12 servings
*Apple butter is my secret ingredient in this cake. I find that it adds a caramel note to the
cake. But omit if you don’t have it.
