Carrot Cake

Last week had been pretty hectic for me. I ran errands for my sister. I went Christmas shopping with friends. I made three orders of carrot cake. One for a friend's friend who recently turned 30ish, one for a belated Thanksgiving dinner with family friends, and another one for a friend's son's birthday.

I have tried a few carrot cake recipes in the past and this is my favorite.  I followed the recipe for the carrot cake but made a little modification on the frosting. If you want a moist and delicious carrot cake which will wow the crowd, try this.

Carrot Cake:
Recipe  from joyofbaking.com


Ingredients:
100 g cashew nuts, lightly brown
340 g raw carrots, finely grated
260 all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
275 g white sugar
240 ml safflower oil, vegetable oil or canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting: (Adapted from joyofbaking)
57 g unsalted butter, room temperature
227 g cream cheese, room temperature
condensed milk to sweeten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
lemon juice

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350degrees F). Grease two 23 x 5 cm  (9x2 inch) cake pans and line the bottom with wax paper.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a bowl of an electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) beat the eggs until frothy. (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar  and beat until the batter is thick and light colored. Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated.

Fold in the carrots and cashew nuts with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25- 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.Remove from oven and cool in a wire rack before frosting.
 

Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a bowl of an  electric mixer (or hand mixer),beat the butter and cream cheese, on low speed, until blended with no lumps.

Gradually add the sweetened condensed milk. The amount you want to add is up to you but you can always adjust the sweetness to your liking. Beat until smooth and well incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Beat in vanilla extract and lemon juice. Again, you are free to adjust the amount of lemon juice until you reach the desired taste.

 To assemble, place one cake layer into a cake board.  Spread half of the frosting.

Place the other cake layer on top.

Spread the rest of the frosting over the top of the cake. Garnish  with toasted nuts. I garnished the top with nibbed cashew nuts but I forgot  to take a picture. Enjoy!