Dearest Readers,
To celebrate my 100th post, I thought I'd share with you a fabulous carrot cake recipe. I made this for my husband's birthday when we first started dating and I'm pretty sure it is the reason he first fell in love with me! (Of course he has since discovered a million other reasons to love me!). I'm sending this over to Debbie at The Friday Friends for her Carrot Cake Showdown!
Carrot-Ginger Layer Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, April 1999.
Ingredients for cake:
unsalted butter, for pans
3 c. all purpose flour
1 c. (3 oz.) pecan halves, toasted and chopped
1 lb. large carrots, peeled and grated finely (should yield 2 1/2 cups grated)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 c. lowfat buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 Tbls. freshly grated ginger
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 recipe for Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)
Directions:
1. Butter and flour two 8 x 2 inch round cake pans. Tap out excess and set aside.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, place grated carrots, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract, sugar, vegetable oil and ginger. Whisk until combined.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until combined. Fold in the chopped pecans.
5. Divide the batter between 2 cake pans and cook until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Approx. 1 hour and 20 minutes.
6. Remove the pans from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool, 15 minutes. Turn cakes out onto the rack and let stand until completely cool.
7. When completely cool, cut each cake in half crosswise to make 4 layers. Place a layer on a cake stand and spread 3/4 c. frosting on top. Repeat with the other layers. On the last layer, spread the frosting on the top and sides of the cake. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 3-4 hours.
Orange Cream-Cheese Frosting adapted from Martha Stewart Living, April 1999
Ingredients:
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 8 oz. bars of cream cheese, room temperature
3 c. confectioners sugar
1 Tbls. freshly grated orange zest
2 Tbls. freshly grated ginger
pinch of salt
Directions:
1. Beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer approximately 2-3 minutes until fluffy.
2. Add the orange zest, ginger and salt and continue to beat well.
3. Turn the mixer to low and beat in the 3 c. of confectioners sugar. Beat until fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.
36 comments:
Oooooooh...Decadent! I'm not the hugest fan of carrot cake but this looks positively luscious!druffe
YUM! Hubby's been bugging me to make carrot cake and I've never done it. Time to try out your recipe!
Congragulations with your century post and wishing you many more posts .
I love carrot cakes and this looks so yumm.
Happy 100! What a beautiful cake! I love all the layers.
Happy 100! I love a good carrot cake and I bet ginger makes it even better.
yummy.n perfect for Vals day too.:)Congrats on the 100 post..:)
Oh oh oh...you know I would not miss this party!!! Pass me a pretend piece please, this is my second favorite cake in the world!!! And you know there is nothing like homemade and your piece screams goodness...
Congratulations! What a delicious way to celebrate!
Look at all those delicious layers! Yummy :)
Oh I am soo going to have to make this. I love, carrot cake, however, I ADORE the idea of orange cream cheese frosting. Yummy!!
MMMM, four layers of loveliness. Love the orange flavored frosting!
what an awesome recipe. It even looks like it might be low fat/ healthy?!?! It certainly doesn't look like it though. And congrats on the posts!!!!
Congratulations! I love how you've decided to celebrate - I just love carrot cake and yours sounds fab, what with the ginger and orange cream-cheese frosting 'n' all :)
CONGRATULATIONS on your 100th post!!
I love carrot cake, and will definitely give yours a try. It looks delicious. :)
Happy 100th post! I love carrot cake and that looks downright delicious!
Awwwww, carrot cake with tons of frosting is my absolute favorite...
I am a HUGE fan of carrot cake...and this looks SOOOO...good..love the addition of orange. I will definitely be trying this..thanks for the recipe:-)
CONGRATS! And I'm looking forward to reading your next posts.
I love carrot cake and I have one in my blog, but I've never thought of adding cream cheese in it, great idea! I love the photo as well.
Hi!
Thank you so much for visiting me and your kind comments! I really hope you try out the mussels dish.
Congratulations on your 100th post!
By the way, I spent 8 years in Seattle :)
What a lovely cake to celebrate your 100th post....
MY GOODNESS!! Does this ever look sooo good. I love the combos of all the flavors!! LOVE IT! It looks perfect!! I have to try this one.
Carrot cake is my Dad's favorite- great excuse to try it out. Now if only I could get out of this hotel...
Happy 100th! What a delicious cake to celebrate such a momentous occasion. Wishing you many more! Now, how about a slice of that cake . . . !
i love carrot cakes..and your looks so delicious with the frosting..
Happy blogging..and looking forward for more delcious recipes from you..
Hi.........
What a yummy cake.....
this looks fabulous!
Happy 100! Glad to have found your blog and wish you several 100 more posts.
The cake looks great! Funny I was thinking of carrot cake yesterday!
I haven't had carrot cake in ages! This looks realy delicious ...love the layers!
Carrot cake is definitely a favorite of mine. I'll definitely try this out!
Congratulations on your 100th post!
The orange cream cheese frosting is a nice touch! Congrats on your milestone. :)
Congrats on your 100th post! I'm so sad, ever since I moved to Hawaii I lost my own carrot cake recipe...I think I'm going to make yours to ease my pain!
I am always so impressed by cakes with 4 layers - they look so professional! But the flavours in yours sound just wonderful.
Carrot Cake is my Absolute Favorite. I love the orange scented cream-cheese. Great idea! Go martha.
This is one of my favorite desserts.
Congratulations!
Congrats on the 100th post! The carrot cake looks fabulous :)
Happy Blogoversary!! That is incredible! This cake looks great and if it didn't make him fall in love with you I bet it helped 'sweeten' the deal :)
Congrats,
Em
www.justeatfood.com
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