The Professional Cinderella

Easter is right around the corner, and if you’re a baker, there’s nothing more synonymous with this time of year than carrot cake. I’m a huge fan of carrot cake, but how do you even begin to wade through the thousands of recipes that exist to find the best one? Well I’ve tried quite a few, and the one below is personal favourite. It’s light, deliciously spicy, and it has toasted pecans which are DELICIOUS. I have tweaked the icing to include a little bit of lemon juice, which I think makes the cream cheese really sing.

Carrot Cake

Recipe by sallysbakingaddiction.com

2 cups chopped pecans (1 cup for cake, 1 cup for garnish). Nuts are optional.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable or canola oil

4 large eggs

3/4 cup smooth unsweetened apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 cups grated carrots (about 3 large)

450g full-fat block cream cheese, softened to room temperature

115g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

4 cups icing sugar

1-2 tbsp lemon juice, to taste

1. Preheat over to 150C. Line a large tray with baking paper. Spread chopped pecans on the tray and toast for 8-10mins. Remove and allow to cool for 10-15mins.
2. Turn the oven up to 180C. Grease and line 3×9 inch cake pans.
3. Whisk the brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, eggs, applesauce and vanilla together in a large bowl. In another large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Whisk to combine. pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold together until just combined. Fold in carrots and 1 cup of the toasted pecans.
4. Spoon the batter evenly into cake pans. Bake for 10-25mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cook completely. Wrap cakes in cling wrap and place in the fridge overnight. This will make the cakes easier to level and ice.
5. In a large bowl, use handheld beaters to beat the cream cheese and butter until pale and smooth. Add icing sugar, cup at a time. Add lemon juice slowly, so as to not let icing become too runny.
6. Level cakes with a serrated knife. Place a generous amount of icing on top of each cake and stack. garnish with remaining pecans.

Heidi xx