Carrot Cake

I have wanted to make carrot cake forever, but didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to shred the carrot by hand. When I got my food processor, I promised Adam I would. We hosted a lunch get together with my family today. So I made the carrot cake for the occasion.

I also thought this was a great way to participate in the Waiter There's Something In My..... Layered Cake

Check back in the end of October or beginning of November for a round up of this event.

I even used some of my skills from cake class and drew a carrot on the top of the cake, I can't decide if it looks like a carrot or a Chile what do you think? I love Peabodys Blog, but sometimes the pictures scare me, they look too pretty. I saw she had a carrot cake recipe, and knew this was my time to try one of her recipes. I am SO glad I did, it was so moist and the frosting was creamy, it was HEAVEN!!!!!

Solid Gold Carrot Cake (From: Tish Boyle’s the Cake Book)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup canola oil I used 1/2 c. veggie oil, and 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup whole milk I used 1% that's what I had
• 1 TBSP vanilla extract
• 2 TBSP finely chopped crystallized ginger I used ground ginger
• 3 cups firmly packed shredded carrots
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped I omitted

Preheat to 350F. Butter and flour two 9-inch pans or mini muffin pans.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

Beat eggs and sugars together on medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. At low speed, add the oil, melted butter, milk, vanilla, and ginger and mix until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing until just blended. Add the carrots and walnuts and mix until blended. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly.

Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes until they are dark golden brown. For mini cupcakes, it took 15 minutes.

Invert cakes onto racks and cool completely. Frost with your choice of frosting, I used the cream cheese recipe below.

Cream Cheese Frosting (From: Peabody)

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl; beat well until smooth. Makes enough cream cheese frosting for a 2-layer cake.

I added a little milk to get to the consistency I wanted.