Tag: carrot cake chef ramsey

Best Ever Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is one of those cakes that’s full of potential, but somehow people always seem to mess with perfection. I mean, really, who decided that adding pineapples and raisins to carrot cake was necessary? No one sits around eating pineapples and carrots together. It makes no sense. I also personally only like the pecans on the outside of the cake, but that’s not a deal breaker. Don’t even get me started on people who use buttercream instead of cream cheese icing for carrot cake. Admittedly, all of these things are extremely trivial… Sometimes I surprise even myself with the amount of useless thought I put into food.

I’m sure you’ve all noticed that I’m a huge fan of Jaclyn over at Cooking Classy because her pictures are always beautiful and everything she posts is absolutely amazing. This cake is a perfect example because, well, this cake is perfect. It is hands down the best carrot cake I have ever made or tried. The only thing I changed is the amount of cream cheese icing (I did one and a half of the recipe). The recipe itself is flawless. I wanted to savor this cake for as long as possible, but it was so good I found myself cutting a piece every time I walked by the fridge. I have zero restraint. I hope you enjoy!

Best Ever Carrot Cake
Recipe from Cooking Classy

Serving Size: 12 Servings
Ingredients

4 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup applesauce

2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 cups lightly packed finely grated carrots*

1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

2/3 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting*
12 ounces (1 1/2 8 ounce packages) cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup salted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 cups powdered sugar

*This is 1 1/2 times the original recipe. Scale it back if you like a bit less frosting.
Directions
  • Preheat
    oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 9″ round cake pans with aluminum foil,
    leaving an overhang on two side. Grease foil and dust with flour, set
    aside. (This cake can also be made in a 9×13 dish just increase baking
    time to 40 – 50 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out
    clean, I have even halved the recipe and baked it in and 8×8 dish).
  • In
    a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt,
    cinnamon and nutmeg. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer,
    combine vegetable oil, applesauce, eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla.
    Slowly stir in dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Stir in
    grated carrots. Divide mixture evenly into 2 prepared cake pans. Bake
    cakes in preheat oven for 35-39 minutes until toothpick inserted into
    center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes in
    cake dishes before removing to a wire rack to cool. Lift cakes out of
    pan with foil overhang and allow to cool on wire rack completely before
    frosting (once cool I cut about 1/4″ off the tops to even them out
    before frosting, you’ll notice the centers don’t rise as high as the
    rest). Flip cakes upside down when frosting with Cream Cheese Frosting.
    Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Store cake in airtight container.
  • *Grate carrots on small grate of a grater. This is usually 6-7 medium carrots.
  • Cream Cheese Frosting
  • In
    a large bowl, using an electric mixer, whip together cream cheese,
    butter and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in powdered sugar and mix until
    well combine.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

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Carrot Cake Granola

I’ve been craving carrot cake for weeks, but summer’s coming up quickly and I really don’t need to be eating cake right now. I decided to make carrot cake granola instead! It’s loaded with all of the goodies that you’d find in your favorite carrot cake: coconut, walnuts, raisins, and warm spices. I even got all trendy and threw in some quinoa, which adds a nutty flavor and slightly chewy texture. This is one of my new favorite treats – I keep disappearing into the kitchen to sneak a hand full.  It’s also great sprinkled over yogurt – I recommend coconut or lemon!

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Because the carrots and quinoa add so much moisture to this granola, it takes longer to make than my other granola recipes – about an hour total. You’ll start it at high heat to toast the oats and walnuts, then reduce the heat to dehydrate the carrots. The result is a great combination of crunchy, chewy, and soft textures. It’s also my contribution to this month’s leftover club, where food bloggers ship their leftovers to faraway friends. A bag of this carrot cake granola is headed off to Dani from Dining with Dani. I hope he likes it as much as I do! Be sure to check out the bottom of this post to see what everyone else made this month!

Carrot Cake Granola

Total time

Author:

Serves: 20

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup shredded carrot (about 2)
  • ¾ cup cooked quinoa
  • ½ cup walnuts
  • ¼ cup shredded coconut
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • dash salt
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil (at room temperature)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ cup raisins
  1. Heat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment.
  2. Mix fist 10 ingredients (through salt). In a separate bowl, mix together honey, coconut oil, and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients; mix thoroughly. Spread in a thin layer on the baking sheet.
  3. Bake 15 minutes; stir. Reduce heat to 225F and bake 45 minutes, or until ingredients are dry and toasted. Remove from oven and let cool. Stir in raisins.
  4. Store in an airtight container.

Calories: 115 Fat: 5 Carbohydrates: 15.5 Fiber: 2 Protein: 3

3.2.1652

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Check out what everyone else made this month! (I was the lucky recipient of the Pancakes and Bacon Cookies… Um, Yum!!!)

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Don’t you wish you could enjoy some of these leftovers with us? You can!  Visit The Leftovers Club for more details!

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