With the change, I started thinking of all the delicious desserts that come with the autumn season. Pumpkin pie, apple pie, something with egg nog and gingerbread cookies are a few that popped into my head. That is, until I saw this particular recipe for carrot cake. Labeled as "Carrot cake to Die For" , this recipe is one that is very similar to Oregon Farms or the Sara Lee brand carrot cake.
I did a little experimenting and tried to create a tunnel of cream cheese in the middle, pulling the filling recipe from another cake. As you can see that componet needs some more tweaking, for there was not enough there to balance with the cake part of this dessert. Due to the high liquidity of the batter, a repeat of this cake would cause me to choose a 9x13 inch cake with no filling that is topped with cream cheese frosting. However, I would still choose the honey/molasses over the brown sugar to sweeten the cake.
As you can see by the picture, the result is a moist dark cake. One slice contains a myriad of spices and sweet honey enveloping thin strips of carrots with an occasional crunch of walnuts. The bake time for my cake took a lot longer than stated in the original recipe, due to the increase of the liquid with the filling. Also, it was baked in a tube pan. The original stated bake time is below, which I feel is probably correct if you intend to bake in a square pan. For a tube pan, the bake time may take up to an hour or more. I have also included the filling, which can be a great addition if tweaked to include with this cake as well as red velvet or lemon. Please note that the recipe does have different options, so be sure to read and decide which to follow prior to starting on this cake.
Carrot Cream Cheese Cake
Cake adapted from Recipelink website/Filling from Desserts from Loveless Cafe
Ingredients/Filling
1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 oz cream cheese (avoid low fat or whipped type)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Ingredients/Cake
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cloves
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
2 1/4 cups of flour
4 cups of shredded/grated raw carrots (do not pack)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar or 1 1/2 cups honey plus 1/4 cup molasses
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts and/or 1 cup raisins
If making the filling, add the cream cheese, sugar and egg to a bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium high for 1 minute, stopping a few times to scrape down the edges of the bowl. Then blend in the egg and the vanilla extract and set aside.
Prepare a cake pan (either 10 inch tube or 9x13 cake pan) by lightly greasing the interior. Also preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In one bowl, sift together the first 7 ingredients. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and eggs. Then stir in the sweetener (brown sugar or honey/molasses), carrots and vanilla extract. Fold in the sifted ingredients. Once no dry streaks remain, mix in the walnuts and/or raisins.
Measure out half the batter and set aside. Pour the other batter in the pan, making sure it is even. For the tube pan, spoon out filling into center of batter, leaving 1/2 inch border of batter along pan edge. For the rectangular pan, the filling should be done in a cross pattern, like tick tack toe with four rows of filling for the shortest sides of the pan and two rows for the longest. You are welcome to use a squirt bottle to do this but remember the key is for it to be thick in a central area instead of thin in a wide area.
After you are done with the filling, Add the second layer of batter to the pan. Make sure that the filling is completely covered and the batter is even.
Then bake cake for about 45 minutes for the rectangular pan or about 50-60 minutes ( tube pan) until cake is set. The batter should no longer jiggle when the cake is done. For tube pan, let cake rest for 20 minutes and then scrape between the pan and the cake around the edges and invert onto cake board or serving tray. The rectangular cake can be served right out of the pan, but make sure either is completely cooled before topping. Dust with confectioners sugar or frost with cream cheese icing- a brown butter cream cheese icing recipe is in the link below.
**LAST YEAR: Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting**