Irresistible Carrot Cake
Makes 1 tall, 9” cake

This recipe was given to me by my former boss and pastry mentor, Joe, when I worked in my first restaurant kitchen. Though other recipes typically use oil, he uses butter, which makes the fantastic flavor.

You can play around with the types of additions you throw in your cake. I like walnuts and golden raisins, but you can use pecans, dried pineapple, crushed pineapple (drained), coconut flakes… or you can leave them all out,  and enjoy the citrus notes.

True, the ingredient list is a little long. I suppose, if you twist my arm, I can tell you to leave out the… oh, who am I kidding. Better not to leave out anything. Just take the hour or so it takes to make this cake as is. It’s so good!

Cake:
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (8 oz) light brown sugar
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (8 oz) granulated sugar
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter
4 eggs
zest from 1 lemon
zest from 1 orange
2 tablespoons (1 oz) lemon juice
2 tablespoons (1 oz) orange juice
2 3/4 cup (15 oz) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 lb carrots, peeled and finely shredded
1 cup (5 oz) walnuts, optional
1 cup (5 oz) golden raisins, optional

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 lb cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups (12 oz) powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the cake:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. If using walnuts, toast then on a sheet pan for 15 minutes, cool then chop.
2. Prepare the cake pans: spray two 9″ cake pans with cooking spray, line with parchment and lightly spray again.
3. Beat butter, and both sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. (You can alternately use a hand-held mixer.)
4. Scrape down the sides to evenly incorporate everything and add eggs, one a time. Mix on medium speed until each one is incorporated before adding the next. Once all the eggs are added, batter will be loose and curdled looking and that’s ok. Scrape the sides.
5. Mix in the orange and lemon zests on sloooow speed. The fats from the butter and eggs help distribute the citrus oils from the zest into the batter better (heh.)
6. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, and continue mixing just until they are fully incorporated but no longer. Don’t overmix or your batter will get tough and gluey.
8. Fold in the carrots, nuts and raisins (if using) by hand, with a spatula.
9. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cake pans and smooth out the tops.
10. Bake in the preheated 350 degree oven until the tops spring back when gently pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Allow cakes to cool completely.

For the frosting:
1. Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature and start by creaming the butter until completely smooth.
2. Add cream cheese and beat until that mix is smooth, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla until fully incorporated.

Assemble the cake:
1. If the carrot cakes baked up with a dome, trim it off with a serrated knife.
2. Center one cake on a serving platter and frost the top. Set the other cake layer on top.
3. Coat the cake with a “crumb coat.” This is a base layer, thinly spread over the cake to lock in the crumbs so they don’t get caught up in the rest of the frosting. The cake wants to be snowy white.
4. Finish frosting the whole cake with as thick a layer as you desire. Yum.