My mother always taught me that if you want to make lasting, valuable friendships, you have to always put your best foot forward, give a fantastic first impression, and serve your best dessert. As my sweet mama is a very wise woman, I have to take her advice. I want you to come back and read my blog weekly and follow my culinary adventures, so I will start with my most famous dessert: Tropical Moist Carrot Cake.
It all started when my boyfriend told me that J. Alexander's has the best carrot cake. ever. I don't like being told someone makes the "best" of anything, because that means that I don't. I have this impossible, almost crippling need to always make the best of everything, even if it means a million failed attempts.
So, I started researching. I had never had carrot cake; my family is very Bulgarian and I came here when I was 8 years old, so the Bulgarian in me has missed out on many traditional American desserts, carrot cake being one of them.
The first carrot cake I made was dry, thin, and definitely no good. This fueled and angered me, so I vowed the next one would be amazing. And it was. The recipe is below! I'm making it for Valentine's Day, since it's his favorite now. He no longer goes to J. Alexander's, because I "ruined their best dessert" for him haha!
Since this is my very first blog, please comment with feedback! I'm always ready for suggestions on how to do things better! Let me know if you try it and definitely let me know if you like it :)
My Infamous Carrot Cake
What you'll need for the cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose, sifted flour (I use Five Roses; its PHENOMENAL!)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- A pinch of salt (a little over 1/2 teaspoon)
- 3 large eggs (4 if they're slightly smaller)
- 1 can crushed pineapple (8 ounces, more if you want it more moist and a little crunchier!)
- 2 1/2 cups grated carrots
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (more for more crunch!)
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup flaked coconut
- slightly under 2/3 cups vegetable oil
- Get out your 2 9-inch round spring baking pans and line them with parchment paper (not wax, it changes the flavor entirely).
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
- Beat the eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract in your stand-alone mixer. (I love my Kitchen-Aide!) Let them mix until very smooth. Don't worry about over-mixing, the ingredients will be just fine. You want this mixture to be very smooth and combined.
- Add the sifted ingredients (the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt) and continue mixing at a slightly lower speed (you don't want flour flying around!). Blend this completely, you want to make sure there are no lumps of flour, because it'll harden in your cake.
- Add in the carrots, pineapple, coconut and the walnuts. Combine them well.
- Pure the delicious batter into your cake pans and bake for 30 minutes. The sides will become a delicious, almost caramelized golden brown and the middle should produce a clean toothpick when you insert it into the center.
- While you're waiting for your cake to bake, make the glaze that will set your cake apart and make it EXTRA moist.
What you'll need for your magic syrup glaze:
- 1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Take out your LARGER saucepan. The ingredients sound like just a few, however, once your add the corn syrup the mixture will be impossible to contain in your medium or small sauce pan and you will have an ENORMOUS sticky mess on your hands and you'll have to start all over.
- Bring the sugar, baking soda, buttermilk, butter, and corn syrup to a boil.
- Let this mixture boil for about 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 minutes. It'll become slightly caramel colored and very sticky. Again, be careful with the mess. The mixture expands very quickly at one point! Trust me, the clean up is near impossible.
- Stir often.
- Turn off the stove and add in the vanilla.
- Make sure you have a good pastry brush or marinade brush. You'll need it shortly!
Take your cake out! Spring it free and put it on a wire rack where it will cool. While your cake is hot from the oven, take a fork and around the perimeter of the cake poke holes into it. This will allow the magic syrup glaze to seep deep into the cake. Continue making holes relatively evenly throughout the entire cake. Trust me, you can hardly have too many.
Once your holes are made, while the cake is still HOT and the glaze is also HOT take your brush and brush both layers of the cake with all of that delicious, sinful glaze. Don't worry, use it all if you can. No such thing as too much of a good thing ;)
While you let your gooey delicious layers cool, make the phenomenal cream cheese frosting. You can't have the perfect carrot cake without it.
What you'll need for the frosting:
- 12 ounces of cream cheese (room temperature!)
- 3/4 cups butter; room temperature (don't do this in a microwave please! If your butter is too cold, use a cheese grater and grate it into your mixing bowl. It will warm up very quickly to where you need it to be!)
- 3 cups and 2 heaping kitchen spoons (the ones you use for soup; I never got the correct measurement) confectioners sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- A tiny little squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
- This one's simple, so take a breather.
- Beat the cream cheese and the butter at a high to medium speed in your stand-alone mixer. Make sure this is extra creamy and smooth. Again, you can't over-beat this!
- Add in the confectioners sugar and the vanilla, but slowly. You don't want that flying everywhere.
- Add in the lemon juice drips and the lemon zest. If you want it to be more tangy, just add a little more.
Make sure your cake is 100% FULLY cooled. I honestly can't stress this enough. If its even a little too warm, your frosting will melt and become very runny. Don't refrigerate your frosting while you wait either! It won't be as fluffy and smooth going on the cake. Just let it sit at room temperature.
Once your cake is fully cooled, frost your heart out on that bottom layer. Make sure you get a nice, thick layer of that decadent frosting. Go ahead and put the second layer right on top and frost your cake! Its best and easiest to frost starting at the sides. Start at one point on the side and work your way around the perimeter of the cake; don't just start on top of the cake even though that seems like the way to go. Its not. It won't frost as nicely at all! Start at the sides and work your way around the cake. Any excess? Just smear THAT into the middle. The layer of frosting on top of the cake comes from the side's excess. My mother is a world-class baker and worked in a very upscale bakery in the heart of our capital city; the woman knows her stuff!
Once you're done frosting, help yourself. Lick your spatula, you deserve it.
I usually crush more walnuts and pecans on top of the cake, drizzle some toasted coconut flakes around the perimeter of the cake, and add a couple whipped cream designs, but that's all up to you. Another thing that's gotten great reviews is a drizzle of white chocolate ganache all over the top of the cake. It's your cake: do whatever feels right!
I know it seems like a very long recipe, but it's just long-winded. I'll learn how to simply shut up and dictate a recipe soon enough, so bear with me! It's a very simple cake, I promise!
I'll get a picture of it up here soon enough, I promise. In my future posts maybe I will post step by step pictures? We'll see :)
