Cooking Lesson #99 Homemade Carrot Cake

Homemade Carrot Cake

How you doin’? When you think of carrot cake, you think healthy and low-calorie, right? After all anything made from carrots has got to be good for you. That may have been the case at one time, but that is likely not the case with many contemporary carrot cake recipes.
 
Many food historians believe carrot cake originated from carrot puddings eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages when sugar and sweeteners were expensive, and many people used carrots as a substitute for sugar and honey.
 
The origins of carrot cake are disputed (like so many things in food history—I did it—no, he did it—no, they did it—so confusing). Published in 1591, there is an English recipe for "pudding in a Carret root" that is essentially a carrot stuffed with meat, but it includes many elements common to the modern dessert. It had some shortening, a little cream, a few eggs, a hand full of raisins, sweetener (dates and sugar), a little spice (clove and mace), some breadcrumbs (in place of flour) and, of course, some carrot scrapings.
 
Antoine Beauvilliers, a former chef to Louis XVI, included a recipe for a "Gâteau de Carottes," which was popular enough to be copied verbatim in competitors' cookbooks. In 1824, Beauvilliers published an English version of his cookbook which included a recipe for "Carrot Cakes."
 
Blah, blah, blah… I could go on for hours, but let’s just fast forward several decades to modern day times. The popularity of carrot cake was revived in the United Kingdom because of rationing of food ingredients during the World War II (that was the Big One). Then I came around and re-wrote the recipe for one of our theme park clients. I can tell you that this recipe is my favorite birthday cake and is completely indulgent. It doesn’t take a whole lot of time to make.
 
Prep Time:  40 minutes
Bake Time:  30 to 35 minutes
Assembly time:  15 minutes
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
 4-layer / 10-inch (or a 6-layer 8-inch cake)

                                             NOTE: This recipe makes a VERY large cake should be refrigerated.
                                             If you don't have the space or the appetite, cut the recipe in half!

Ingredients
For the cake
2 cups vegetable oil (not butter)
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup golden brown sugar
5 large eggs      
2-2/3 cups fine grated carrots,
1-1/3 cups chopped walnuts, toasted (or your favorite nut)
1-1/3 cups pineapple, crushed and drained
2/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup raisins soaked in a cup of rum to plump—discard the rum
1 teaspoon orange zest
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/3 tablespoons baking soda
1-1/3 tablespoons baking powder
2-2/3 tablespoons cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
 
For cream cheese frosting
16 ounces cream cheese
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
 
For the topping
1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup coconut flakes, toasted
 
Directions
To make the cake

1. Preheated oven to 325⁰F.
2. Grease 4 10-inch cake pans and line with cut parchment paper rounds; set aside.
3. In a large bowl mix together the oil, sugars, eggs, carrots, nuts, pineapple, coconut, and raisins.
4. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
5. Add the carrot mixture and blend everything together.
6. Evenly pour the batter into the cake pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until done. (About 2-1/3 cups of batter per layer pan)
7. Remove the cake pans from oven and cool for 30 minutes on a rack.
8. Release the cakes from the pans and cool completely before frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting

1. Whip together the cream cheese, butter and vegetable shortening for 15 minutes (yes, a full 15 minutes). Mixture must be very smooth and light.
2. Add the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla and mix until smooth (about 3 minutes). If the frosting is too loose, add more sugar. You want it to be spreadable and smooth.

To assemble the cake

1. Assemble the carrot cake one layer at a time with frosting on each layer.
2. Finish the carrot cake with a layer of cream cheese frosting on top. 
3. Garnish with toasted walnuts, coconut and grated white chocolate, if using.

 
ChefSecret:  When I assemble layer cakes, I freeze the layers first.  It makes it that much easier to frost the layers. Another reason to do this is if you only have a couple of cake pans and need to bake a second batch of layers.
 
Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “It turns out that when asked who your favorite child is, you’re supposed to pick one of your own. I know that now.”
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