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Carrot Cake for our quiet Easter.
This year Easter will be quiet. It will be myself and my husband at home. We will be missing the kids, grandkids and family. But we know that this is only temporary and we will be together again soon.
Until then, we are trying to keep a sense of normal. So we will have our Easter dinner, and our sweets. We will have family together…on FaceTime. We will make plans for the good times ahead and we will know that someday soon we will get those warm hugs from the ones we love the most.
Today I’m sharing with you a little bit of our normal. A warm hug from me to you. Please enjoy the carrot cake recipe.
Happy Easter!
Carrot Cake
warm spicy carrot cake with cream cheese frostingEquipment
- Stand mixer
- box grater
- off set spatula
Ingredients
- 2 cups AP flour
- 1 1/2 cups Canola oil
- 4 lg eggs
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp cinnamon ground
- 1 tsp ginger ground
- 1/4 tsp cloves ground
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 medium carrots peeled and grated
- 1 1/2 cups walnuts chopped
Cream cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 8 oz unsalted butter 2 sticks
- 3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Decorating frosting
- 8 oz unsalted butter 1 stick
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp half and half
- food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your pans. Spray and line with parchment.Gather your ingredients together
- In a large mixing bowl add, oil, eggs, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and vanilla. Mix for about 2 minutes until well combined.
- Add flour and mix
- Add carrots and walnuts and mix in by hand.
- Split batter between 2 pans and bake. 350 for about 40 minutes. Rotate pan after 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven, cool in pan for 5-10 minutes then transfer to rack to cool.Make frosting.
Cream cheese frosting
- Add cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl with paddle attachment and mix on medium for about 2 minutes, scraping down half way.
- Add 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and mix for another 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Remove from bowl and set aside.In the same bowl add heavy cream, 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla and with the whip attachement whip until stiff peaks.Fold whipped cream into frosting.
Decorator frosting
- place stick of butter into mixing bowl with paddle attachment and whip until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes scraping down half way through.
- add cup of powdered sugar, pinch of salt and vanilla and whip until well combined and fluffy. Seperate into seperate bowls to add colors.
- Add desired colors and mix well, set aside.
- Place one of the cakes on a cake board, or plate. Use a little frosting as glue so the cake will not move. Frost and stack.
- Once coated place in freezer or fridge to set up.
- Using colored icing, I piped out "carrots" onto wax paper and froze them for 15 minutes.
- Once they are frozen, you can pop them off and use to decorate your cake
- Have fun with it!
Notes
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Basic Scone Recipe
I love a good biscuit…and what is a scone but a dressed up biscuit, am I right? I also love having a basic recipe that can accommodate all of the crazy combo ideas I have in my head while still coming out fluffy and delicious.
If any of you have ever been to the cafe and had one of our scones, this was the recipe I used. It’s ridiculously simple and a great blank canvas for you to get creative. Make them sweet or savory or try seasonal fruits and veggies. As I sit here, editing this post the ideas in my head for new scones are popping up. I hope you let your creativity free and make these delicious scones.
Enjoy!
basic scone recipe
Here is my basic scone recipe, I use it to make all different kind of variations. Both savory and sweet. Its a great jumping off point.Servings 8 sconesEquipment
- hand grater
Ingredients
- 3 cup AP Flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks (very cold)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
Variations Cheddar Jalapeno
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapeno
Variation
- 1 cup cinnamon chips
Variation Cranberry orange
- 1 cup craisins
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp orange juice
Variation Raspberry Almond
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 – 1 1/2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees or 400 degrees convection. Line a sheet tray with parchement paper, or spray with non stick spray.Mix all of your dry ingredients together in a large bowl
- Grate your cold butter and add it to your bowl
- Work the flour and butter together just until butter is small pea sized, then add your add ins ( in this case I added cheddar and jalapeno)
- Mix together with a fork, until evenly distributed. Make a well and add your buttermilk. Bring it together in the bowl with a fork until it starts to come together. If it looks too dry add a little more buttermilk a tablespoon at a time. ( I added 1 more tablespoon) then dump out onto your board (counter).
- I used parchement paper to fold over the ingredients. It keeps warm hands from melting the butter to much. Fold it over about 5 – 6 times and then shape into a cirlcle. Cut into 8 pieces. Place it on your lined sheet tray.
- Brush the tops with heavy cream and top with desired topping (I chose a jalapeno ring) (If I was doing a sweet scone I may top it with coarse sugar). A little bit of cheese would be nice as well.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, I check it after 15 and rotate the sheet pan.
Notes
For the Cranberry Orange : add orange zest and craisins to the dry mixture before adding the buttermilk. While the scones are baking make the orange glaze with the powdered sugar and orange juice. Drizzle onto the warm scones. For the Raspberry almond: mix your almond extract in with your buttermilk and make the scone without any add ins. Once you dump your mixture onto your board, add the raspberries, incorporating them as you fold them in. Shape and cut as normal and after you brush with heavy cream sprinkle on your sliced almonds to the top. While the scones are baking make your vanilla glaze. Drizzle onto the warm scones.
For the cheddar jalapeno: I often add a 1/2 cup of chopped cooked bacon to this. If I do I reduce the cheddar to 3/4 of a cup.
