Carrot Cake – Wedding Dinner (Revisited) Part 2

Posted by Shawn Kocher on April 10, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

Let’s have some dessert first for a change.  I’m a savory lewd foodie, but I believe that every good cook should be able to pull off at least a few classic desserts.  This one is by far my favorite.  It was also the finale of my wedding dinner, only made by a pro for hundreds of dollars more.  I could eat the entire pan in one sitting.  I haven’t, but I could.  And I might.  I might and I probably will…it will be fun to burn off about 6000 calories, right?

But first, I need to share this.  You need to stop whatever you are doing right now and make some of this carrot cake.  The beauty of this moist, spicy, and boldly flavorful confection is that you get to control the sweetness as you eat it.  I’m not a huge fan of overly sweetened foods, even for dessert.  You know the type.  The tooth enamel decimating, pancreas exploding, kids spinning around until they collapse kind of sugary vertigo.  Most desserts, like pies, cremes, ganaches, and custards have one flavor throughout.  If that flavor is all sweetness then you are stuck with a one-note, unbalanced dessert.  This won’t do you like that.  This cake is not overly sweet by itself, allowing you to control the sweetness by adding or removing icing from each individual bite.  This cake recipe is perfect and the vanilla in the icing really shines through.  I like to heat it up for 20 seconds in the micro before serving, so the icing just begins to melt and the cake is warm.  I don’t usually recommend using the microwave for anything, especially cream cheese, but you will just have to trust me on this one.  Some vanilla bean ice cream wouldn’t hurt either, but you don’t really need it.

Now go and eat your vegetables!

 

Carrot Cake

  • 2 cups of flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1-1/4 cups of vegetable or olive oil (not virgin)
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons freshly ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon allspice
  • 3 cups of grated carrots
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350°.   Spray non-stick coating or butter a 9″x13″ baking dish.  Sprinkle flour on the dish to lightly coat the bottom and sides.  In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.  Whisk the ingredients well.  Beat and add your eggs, one at a time, until they are incorporated.  Slowly add the oil and vanilla extract, continuously whisking until you have a thick batter.  Fold in the carrots and walnuts.  Pour batter into the center of the baking pan.  It should slowly roll out to the edges, filling the pan 1/3 of the way to the top.  Worry not, the cake will rise nicely while baking.  Bake batter for 45 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out dry.  While it’s baking, get started with the icing.

 

Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing

  • 1 stick of softened sweet butter
  • 8 oz fat-free cream cheese (there’s an entire stick of butter…you won’t miss the fat).
  • 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup of crushed walnuts
In a small mixing bowl, add the butter and cream cheese and blend using an electric mixer.  Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.  Add the sugar, in half-cup intervals, and mix again.  I like to crush my walnuts by sealing them in a twisted sandwich bag and going to town with a meat tenderizer.  The oil in the walnuts should almost make it like a paste.  Mix the walnut paste into the icing.  Once the cake is done and cooled for 20-30 minutes on a baking grate, slowly pour the icing over the middle of the cake, allowing it to slowly drip down the sides.  Garnish wish a few  roughly chopped walnuts to add a little crunch.

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