Carrot Cake

I adore the Cook's Illustrated cookbooks. I don't have many cookbooks but I have nearly all of the CI series and subscribed to the magazine for a number of years. Their most recent addition, Inside America's Test Kitchen: All-New Recipes, Quick Tips, Equipment Ratings, Food Tastings, Science Experiments from the Hit Public Television Show, is another wonderful book full of reliable recipes borne from testing and research. What I find most attractive about these cookbooks, aside from their being utterly reliable, is that all of the recipes are for foods that most people could realistically imagine themselves making and eating regularly. The books also appeal to the chemist within since many of the recipes, ingredients and kitchenware are discussed in detail.

Recently we had dinner at a nominally American-style restaurant and for dessert we decided to split a slice of carrot cake. I love carrot cake so I was a bit bummed when it arrived smothered in caramel sauce. Oh, and no cream cheese icing. Finns seem to enjoy things SWEET when they have something with sugar which I can appreciate except in alcoholic ciders but, not everything tastes better with more sugar. Carrot cake is lovely on its own so leave the pineapple in but lay off the karamelli kastike, ok? :)

So, I was really happy to find that CI has a terrific recipe for carrot cake in the new book. They emulsify the vegetable oil for a lighter cake and adjust the carrot portion to keep it from being either soggy or dry. And they didn't forget the cream cheese icing. :)

Simple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

carrot cake

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon gound cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound ( 6-7 medium) carrots, peeled
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cups safflower, canola or vegetable oil

cream cheese frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened but still cool
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

For the cake:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350F. Spray a 13X9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment and spray the parchment.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a large bowl; set aside.
3. In a food processor fitted with a large shredding disk, shred the carrots (you should have about 3 cups); transfer the carrots to a bowl and set aside. Wipe out the food processor workbowl and fit with the metal blade. Process the granulated and brown sugars and eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined, about 20 seconds. With the machine running, add the oil through the feed tube in a steady stream. Process until the mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 20 seconds longer. Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. Stir in the carrots and the dry ingredients until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain. If you like nuts in your cake, stir 1 1/2 cups toasted chopped pecans or walnuts into the batter along with the carrots. Raisins are also a good addition; 1 cup can be added along with the carrots. If you add both nuts and raisins, the cake will need and additional 10 to 12 minutes in the oven. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. cool the cake to room temperature in the pan on a wire rack, about 2 hours.

For the frosting

1. When the cake is cool, process the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla in a clean food processor workbowl until combined, about 5 seconds, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the confectioners' sugar and process until smooth, about 10 seconds.
2. Run a paring knife around the edge of the cake to loosen from the pan. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, peel off the parchment, then invert again onto a serving platter. Using an icing spatula, spread the frosting evenly over the surface of the cake. Cut into squares and serve.

Ginger-Orange variation

Follow the recipe for the carrot cake, reducing the cinnamon to 1/2 teaspoon, adding 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger along with the spices, adding 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger along with the carrots, and processing 1 tablespoon grated orange zest along with the sugar and eggs. For the frosting, substitute an equal amount orange juice for the sour cream and 1 tablespoon grated orange zest for the vanilla.

2 Dec 2003 at 23:04, Helsinki