hazliya | May Day recipe - Snow White Carrot Cake (Reply)

So, for May Day, I decided to throw together one of my favorite things ever, a super-rich carrot cake. And, remembering that I promised to photoblog it for a few people, I did just that.

Here's the recipe, complete with pictures - enjoy!

SNOW WHITE CARROT CAKE
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Ingredients, cake:
6c grated/shredded carrots
1c brown sugar
1c raisins
.5 - 1c chopped walnuts
4 eggs
1.5c granulated sugar
1c crushed pineapple
2tsp vanilla extract
1c oil
3c flour
2tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
4 - 5tsp cinnamon
1 - 2tsp nutmeg
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Ingredients, frosting:
.5c (single stick) butter
16oz cream cheese
2tsp vanilla extract
1 - 2c confectioner's sugar
NOTE: This is my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe for this cake. The cake is really rich, and a light-and-sugary frosting wouldn't do well against it. However, if you want to use this frosting with another cake, you can cut all ingredients in half and add a tub of whipped topping instead or mix in a few tablespoons of cocoa powder for a chocolate version.
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Recommended equipment:
2 9" or 10" round cake pans
Food processor
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1. This is the most labor-intensive part of the process. Gather your carrots and cut them into chunks (sans the bits at either end). Toss them into the processor and get them into pretty tiny pieces before measuring out 6 cups. Until I got a food processor, I had to grate them by hand - something which took up to an hour and made my hands orange. Remember, we don't want pulpy puree, we want shredded chunks.

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2. When you've got 6 cups of shredded orange goodness, mix in your brown sugar, walnuts, and raisins. Put this aside and let it sit while you do everything else. While you're at it, preheat the oven to 350 and let the butter and cream cheese sit on a plate somewhere warm to soften for later.

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3. Beat the eggs, then add in the sugar. Whip until consistently grainy.

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4. Mix in the oil, vanilla, and pineapple.
NOTE: You may need to drain the pineapple first. The fruit itself is water-heavy; too much liquid makes for soggy cakes and baking issues.

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5. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices before adding them to the wet mix. I left wiggle room in the amounts of cinnamon and nutmeg - you'll probably want no more than 5tbsp total, depending on how strong your cinnamon is. I used Saigon, so I went a little easy on it.

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6. Time to stir in the carrot mixture. Your batter is going to look chunky and disgusting, but trust me, it bakes much cuter.

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7. Grease and flour your pans before pouring out the batter. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.
NOTE: Toothpick test - stick a toothpick in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. If it comes out wet and clumpy, it's not.

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8. While that's going, time to make the frosting. It's real simple: throw all your now-softened ingredients into your food processor and blend. The cake itself is sweet and really fragrant, so I tend to stay around one cup of confectioner's sugar. But if you have a sweet tooth, keep adding more to taste. Cover it and put it in the fridge when done.
NOTE: If this is your first time working with confectioner's/powdered sugar, two words for you: "search" and "destroy." This sugar is notorious for clumping, but breaks up easily. Be sure to smash any clumps you find before tossing it into the blender, as this keeps the frosting smooth and consistent.

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9. When it's done, check the bottoms of your layers. This cake is ridiculously sticky and very easy to burn. Let them cool.

Yay! No burnination!
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10. Put down your bottom layer and slather frosting on it generously. From about an inch from the edge, the frosting layer should be thinner than the center. This gives it room to ooze out when the top layer is added.

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11. Mount the top layer as centered as you can. This is not always easy nor perfect, but frosting can cover all manner of mistakes.

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12. Frost, and you're done!

I like to leave this cake naked (even though decorating is usually my favorite step), but simplest is best with this one. Taste it and you'll see why. It's more than enough on its own; between the frosting and rich cake, anything else would be lost. It's also really good refrigerated, because then the frosting tends to take on an ice-cream like consistency. =)

I can't wait to eat it. It's taunting me in my fridge, but oh! can I be patient.

-H