Ultimate Carrot Cake

This is from Carole Bloom’s book, The Essential Baker.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 12-14

Ingredients

• 1  lb carrot, grated
• 4  extra large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1 1⁄4 cups canola oil
• 2⁄3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2  teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1  large orange, zest of, finely grated
• 2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1⁄4 cups walnuts or 1 1⁄4 cups  shredded coconut
• 1  cup raisins or 1  cup dried cherries, chopped

• FROSTING

• 12  ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4  ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 2  teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1⁄4 teaspoon  lemon extract (optional)
• 2  teaspoons lemon zest
• 2  teaspoons orange zest
• 2 1⁄2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Prepare muffin tins with papers (about 48 regular cupcakes) or two 9-inch round cake pans (2 inch sides) with parchment and oil.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Coarsely grate the carrots in a food processor using the grater attachment.
4. Chop them into finer pieces with the medal blade attachment in the food processor, if you want the texture of the cake a little bit finer.
5. Mix together the eggs, sugar, oil, brown sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest.
6. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a bowl with a whisk.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.
8. Add the finely chopped carrots, walnuts (or coconut), and raisins (or dried cherries).
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pans or scoop into cupcake papers (fill 3/4 full).
10. Bake cupcakes for about 18-25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
11. Bake 9-inch cakes for about 35-40 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
12. Cool in pan(s) on wire rack for 10-15 minutes.
13. Make frosting by combining all frosting ingredients and beating well, until fluffy.
14. NOTE: If you like lots of frosting, double this recipe, but you'll have some left over, even if you are generous with it while frosting the cake. But it's delicious on EVERYTHING!
15. To assemble the cake, remove from pan(s) and peel off the parchment paper from the bottom, place on cardboard rounds.
16. With a thin serrated knife slice off the very top of the cake layer, using a sawing motion, to level the tops, if desired.
17. Cut the cake layers into 2 equal layers. Slide the layers onto a cardboard round or any other flat surface.
18. Using an offset spatula spread about 1½ cups of the frosting evenly over the surface of the first layer.
19. Top with the next layer and repeat for the rest of the layers.
20. Place about 2 cups of the icing on the top of the cake and spread evenly.
21. Spread the icing onto the sides of the cake.
22. Using the spatula, create swirls in the frosting on the cake. This cream cheese frosting is very soft so you won’t want to try for anything too exacting.
23. Press additional shredded coconut onto the sides of this cake, as a garnish, if desired.