Let's Talk About Carrot Cake!
Well, I’d like to hear about your best carrot cake. I was ordering a latte at my favorite Seattle supermarket yesterday and decided to peruse the adjacent bakery counter while I waited. I was astonished to read a flyer advertising a carrot cake on sale for $18.99.
The sale was advertising their Easter Dinner specials, and the flyer noted that the carrot cake sale price was $5 off the usual price. The two layer 8-inch cake serves 6-8 people. Personally, I thought the price was a bit steep, but I don’t often buy specialty baked goods simply because I make them so often at home.
This little escapade at the bakery counter prompted me to head home and dig up one of my favorite carrot cake recipes. The Classic Carrot Cake recipe originally appeared in the February/March 2008 issue of Taste of Home. Submitted by Cheri Eby of Gunnison, Colorado, the cake is made in a basic 9-by 13- pan and serves 12. In the introduction to the recipe, Ms. Eby notes that the cake took first place in a local dessert contest held by the Colorado Outfitters Association.
I’ve made Ms. Eby's recipe many times and indeed it’s valuable to me because carrots are a staple in my house. I buy certified organic carrots in large quantities at the farmers market and keep them on hand for use in many dishes. Over the years, my kids have learned to love these carrots, and I have found this carrot cake to be a fun way to slip an extra veggie into their diets.
Do you have a favorite carrot cake?
Photo by Melissa A. Trainer
--Melissa A. Trainer
abaker on March 20, 2010 at 11:16 AM
The best carrot cake recipe is from Rosemary Champlin Graves:
Carrot Cake
Rosemary Champlin Graves
Combine in bowl:
2 cups sugar
1.5 cups wesson oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sifted flour
***************
3 cups fine grated raw carrots
1 cup raisins
Beat with electric beater for a couple of minutes. Add carrots and raisins. Bake in angel food cake pan for 1 hour at 375 degrees. (Raisins optional)
Icing
Let 1 stick butter and 8 ounce package of cream cheese reach room temperature.
Mix well until fluffy with electric mixer. Add one package of powdered sugar (1 lb box) (slowly). Beat thoroughly. Add one cup chopped pecans. Ice when cake cools. Toast the pecans before adding to the icing.
Liz Summers on March 22, 2010 at 05:17 PM
When my husband and I retired and found ourselves living in Florida part-time we discovered the local grocery had the "best" carrot cake. It was wonderful. I searched for a recipe and it took a few years, (9 to be exact) but I have found the second best carrot cake.
Florida Nana's Carrot Cake
Ingredients for Cake:
2 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
3/4 C canola oil
3/4 C buttermilk
2 C granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 C crushed pineapple (drained)
2 C carrots (grated)
1 C walnuts (chopped)
1/2 C raisins
1/2 C sweetened flaked coconut
Ingredients for Glaze:
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 T light corn syrup
1/2 C buttermilk
1 C granulated sugar
1/2 C (1 stick) butter
Ingredients for Frosting:
6 oz Cream Cheese (room temp)
1/4 C (1/2 stick) butter (room temp)
2 C sifted confectioners sugar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Directions :
1. Make the cake:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans and fit with two circles of parchment paper. Butter the sides and paper and dust with flour. Set aside. Whisk eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar, and vanilla extract together until combined, about 2 minutes, and stir into the flour mixture. Add the pineapple, carrots, nuts, raisins, and coconut and stir to combine.
Divide the batter between the pans and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean, about 45 min
2. Make the Glaze:
Eight minutes before the cakes are done, bring the corn syrup, the baking soda, buttermilk, sugar, and butter to a medium boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Pour all of the glaze over the hot cakes in their pans. Cool cakes in pans, on a wire rack.
3. Make the Frosting:
Place the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and beat, using a mixer set on high speed for about 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to medium, add the confectioners sugar and lemon juice, and beat until smooth.
4. Assemble Cake:
Unmold cakes and place 1 layer on cake plate. Spread 1/3 of the frosting over the layer, top with remaining layer. Frost cake top and sides with remaining frosting.
folliculitis on May 18, 2010 at 07:10 AM
Ideal for any type of meeting: family or friends. A delicious meal easy and quick to prepare.
A recipe that will make you look like a real expert and in no time.