National Carrot Cake Day is Thursday, according to the National Day Calendar.
This orange confection is one that kids tend to scoff at, the mixing of vegetables with sweets, but adults tend to savor.
Carrot cake is kind of like the opposite of a kitchen shortcut. Sure, one could use a mix, but making the real thing is actually pretty easy, especially with the help of a food processor.
Carrot cake is a little bit of a culinary misnomer. While it’s frosted and served as a dessert, carrot cake, in method anyway, is a muffin.
Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, add the wet to the dry and stir until just combined. It’s the muffin method through and through.
Except, carrot cake is actually a little easier than muffins because the whole of the batter can be dumped into a greased pan, rather than scooped out into individual cups. That is, unless carrot cake cupcakes are on the menu.
The key ingredient is shredded carrots, which are fairly easy to do by hand with a standard box grater and even easier using the shredding attachment of some models of food processor. Of course, carrots can be purchased pre-shredded, for a really quick shortcut.
With carrots being a common garden crop, there are many bakers out there who cannot only bake the cake from scratch, but brag that they’ve grown the carrots from tiny seeds.
Carrots add sweetness and moisture to a batter.
Carrot cakes have been around for centuries, but the modern carrot cake can be traced back to World War II when carrots were suggested as a way to add sweetness to cakes when sugar was being rationed, according to the World Carrot Museum of Skipton, England.
In the U.S., carrot cake is classically topped with cream cheese frosting, which is made by beating cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar together until smooth.
The best carrot cakes have a little orange carrot with a green leaf piped onto each piece, but that adds mostly whimsy and does nothing to enhance the taste.
The real stars of carrot cake are the spices. Cinnamon is always invited to the party, but which other friends come with is completely up to the baker.
Nutmeg plays well, cardamom too. Try ginger or even turmeric, which will help up the orange color of the batter.
Some people like to add walnuts, raisins or even pineapple to their carrot cakes. There’s no right or wrong answer, and this choice will always come down to preference.
So pick up a pound of carrots, break out that box grater and get baking to celebrate this very special day.
Carrot cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour.
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder.
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda.
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon.
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg.
- 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk.
- 1 ⅔ cups shredded carrots.
- ½ cup brown sugar.
- 2 tablespoons white sugar.
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil.
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract.
For the frosting
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened.
- 1 eight-ounce package of cream cheese, softened.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch-by-8-inch or similarly sized baking pan. Double cake recipe to bake in a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
In another bowl combine the eggs, shredded/grated carrots, brown sugar, white sugar, oil and vanilla.
Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and mix together until just combined. Do not overmix.
Pour the cake batter into the baking pan and spread batter evenly into the pan.
Place in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. It will be done when a toothpick comes out clean when poked in the center of the cake.
When the cake is done, remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a mixer until thoroughly whipped. Add vanilla until fully combined. Add powdered sugar a half cup at a time until desired sweetness and thickness is met.
Spread frosting on top of the cooled cake. The whole batch may not be necessary for a smaller cake. Store any extra frosting in the fridge.
Recipe adapted from The Butcher’s Wife at https://thebutcherswife.blog/yummy-carrot-cake/.
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