Southern Living Carrot Cake

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Benito on 12 Mar 2021 at 15:24

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Southern carrot cake. I’ve never made a carrot cake before believe it not. I’ve never been a huge fan of them, I’ve always said they’re just fine. This recipe is from Southern Living Magazine and was intended to make carrot cake bars. I’ve adjusted the weights to make a 9” round cake instead. 

Ingredients (tall 9” round)


  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (1.5 cup)

  • 1 ½ tsp.s ground cardamom (1.125 tsp)

  • 1 tsp. baking soda (0.75 tsp)

  • ½ tsp. kosher salt (0.375 tsp)

  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (1.125 cups)

  • ¾ cup canola oil (½ + ⅛ cup)

  • 4 large eggs (3 eggs)

  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided (1.5 tsp) Divided half for batter and half for icing

  • 2 cups grated carrots (from 2 large carrots) (1.5 cups)

  • ½ cup chopped toasted walnuts, plus more for garnish (0.375 cup)

  • 1 (8-oz.) can or 1 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained (about 1/2 cup drained) (0.375 cup)

  • Cooking spray

  • 1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature (170 g)

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (0.375 cup)

  • 2 cups powdered sugar (1.5 cups)

  • Toasted coconut chips

 

Directions


Step 1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, cardamom, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together sugar, oil, eggs, and 1 (0.75) teaspoon of the vanilla in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk flour mixture into sugar mixture until well combined and smooth. Fold in carrots, walnuts, and crushed pineapple until combined. Grease a 13-x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray, and pour batter into prepared pan.

Step 2 Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and top is deep golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cake cool completely in pan on a wire rack, about 1 hour.

Step 3 Beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla, and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating on low speed until mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. (Beat butter and sugar first, then add cream cheese and vanilla and beat further)

 

Step 4 Evenly spread frosting on top of cooled cake. Garnish with toasted coconut chips and additional chopped toasted walnuts. Cut into 12 bars.

 

This is quite good, my partner really loved it as did my neighbors.  I’m OK with it, but I think that is because I’m just not huge on carrot cake.  I’d probably add a few more spices the next time and add orange or lemon to the frosting. 

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A good carrot cake, as with a good babka, a good cheesecake, a good dark chocolate cake with ganache...is worth its weight in gold.  Or at least chocolate gold coins!  I don't see spice other than cardamom, so it is definitely lacking a few.   Perhaps a nutmeg or ginger, and a few more.  As satisfying as can be. 

Do you, by any chance, have a walk in freezer where you keep all of these leftovers?

Alan, I was surprised that it didn’t have more spices in it other than cardamon.  I usually try to bake something as written more or less, I too was surprised that there weren’t other spices in this.  I would add other spices in the future.  I’d also consider adding orange zest to the frosting as well just to give it another flavour profile.

No walk in freezer, I send slices down to the concierge and office and to a good neighbor downstairs as well.  I wish I had a deep freeze, I only have a side by side refrigerator and only one draw for bread.

Benny

Looks delicious Benny.  Agree with both of you about the additional spice, but the cake looks nice and moist and the cream cheese frosting is spot on!  The walnuts on top are a nice touch too.

Thank you Troy, for a first foray into carrot cakes I’m pretty happy with it.  I should have looked at a couple more recipes before just making this one but I’ll just try a mix of different spices next time.  The recipe otherwise was great, I certainly like the pineapple in it instead of what I think are more common, raisins.

Benny - well done! I'm a big fan of carrot cake and have made many over the years. But not recently. Pineapple is indeed the secret ingredient in an over the top carrot cake. Enjoy..

Thank you Frank, a lack of variety of spices has been identified in this recipe, what spices do you like to add to your carrot cake.  I do agree about the pineapple, for me it is better than raisins.

Benny

  1. I see that your recipe has coconut and pineapple. That makes it really nice and moist (yes, I had to use that word!?). I think my version also has nuts in it. Wish I could have tried a piece of yours. It looks really good!