Today is Sunday, a perfect day to enjoy a lovely carrot cake from my new Dorie Greenspan Baking book. I was really craving this carrot cake, so I started making it, I got about halfway thru when I realized, I was making the wrong cake. The trouble was I really wanted that carrot cake, so I improvised and ended up with a very tasty cake...
CARROT CAKE
2 1/4 cups flour
1 TBSP baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup shredded coconut
2 cups sugar
zest of one orange
1 stick butter
1/2 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
Whsk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots and coconut. In another bowl, mix the sugar and orange zest
with your fingers until moist and
fragrant.
Beat the sugar mixture and butter
and oil together on medium speed until
smooth. Add the eggs one by one, and
continue to beat until the batter is even
smoother. Reduce the speed to low and
add the flour mixture, mixing only until
the dry ingredients disappear. Gently
mix in the chunky ingredients. Divide
the batter among the baking pans. Bake
for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans
from top to bottom and front to back at
the midway point, until a thin knife
inserted into the centers comes out clean;
the cakes will have just started to come
away from the sides of the pans. I baked
it in one 9 x 13 pan for 45 minutes at 325. Transfer
the cakes to cooling racks and cool for
about 5 minutes, then run a knife around
the sids of the cakes and unmold them.
Invert and cool to room to room temp-
erature right side up. (The cakes can be
wrapped airtight and kept at room temp-
erature overnight for up to 2 months.)
Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temp.
1 stick butter
3 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2-3 TBSP orange juice
Beat all ingredients together until
smooth spread over cooled cake.
