My Daughter’s Carrot Cake

May 14, 2022

Up to this point in time, I’ve written about 2 of my husband’s great soups, my daughter’s fantastic stir fried rice and her great turkey meatloaf. Now, I’ll tell you all about my daughter’s amazing scratch recipe for carrot cake, (apparently, I don’t cook at all).

I’m looking forward to a nice slice of this carrot cake, but first, we’ve got to make it.

Try to use organic ingredients whenever possible

Ingredients for the Cake, (Bowl 1)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ¾ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the Cake, (Bowl 2)

¾ cup canola, (or vegetable oil)
4 room temperature chicken eggs, (white or brown, your choice)
1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

As for Frosting the Cake, (see Dairy Full or Dairy Free Frosting)

Before you begin, preheat your oven to 350°F, (177°C).

Mix the following ingredients in bowl 1

This is a ceramic bowl, but Pyrex, glass or plastic would work just fine too.

Measure 2 cups of all purpose flour, (do not scoop the flour into the measuring cup, spoon it in).

Don’t pack it down, but level it off.

Add the 2 cups of all purpose flour into the bowl.

Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda in the bowl.

It is very important to measure as precisely as possible.

Add 2 teaspoons of baking powder in the bowl.

Add 1 ¾ teaspoons cinnamon in the bowl.

Add ½ teaspoon ground ginger in the bowl.

Add ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg in the bowl.

Add ½ teaspoon salt in the bowl.

I buy iodized salt for my cooking and baking purposes. Iodized salt provides only a small fraction of daily iodine intake. Using it helps to promote healthy hydration levels, balance electrolytes and create the hormones that regulate heart rate and blood pressure. It also helps to burn extra fat deposits that could lead to heart disease. Some people must be careful and restrict their intake of salt though.

Wisk all of the ingredients in the bowl.

Wisk until the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Set this bowl aside and begin filling bowl number 2, (a bowl you will use with a mixer).

Mix the following ingredients in bowl 2

My daughter has a wonderful mixer, but you might simply use a bowl and an electric had mixer at this stage, (or you might just mix everything by hand). The choice is up to you.

Her mixer is a standing mixer made by KitchenAid. The bowl below is detachable.

This is the KitchenAid professional series, 6 quart, bowl lift stand mixer, model number KP26M9PC.

Measure and pour ¾ cup canola oil into your mixing bowl 2, (or vegetable oil, your choice).

Crack open and add the whites and yolks of 4 chicken eggs, to the bowl, (white or brown eggs, your choice).

Did you know, it is unadvisable to eat any part of an egg, raw?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (also know as the CDC), advises avoiding raw egg consumption, because eating a raw egg can lead to serious illness.
Eggs may carry salmonella, (a bacteria that causes food poisoning).
Eggs can become contaminated with this bacteria before the shell is formed.
Thoroughly cooking an egg’s yolk and white until they are solid, kills salmonella.
You may ask, what does this mean for you?
No tasting the cake batter before the cake is completely cooked!

Get the dark brown sugar.

No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, gotta love it.

Pack the brown sugar into a measuring cup. Add 1 ½ cups of it, in the bowl.

Add ½ cup granulated sugar in the bowl.

Add ½ cup unsweetened applesauce in the bowl.

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla in the bowl.

Mix all of the ingredients in this bowl on low speed.

Rinse off your carrots. Cut the ends and tips off.

Notice that carrot in the back, scary, huh!

Use a grating size bigger than zesting size to grate 3 cups of carrots.

Here’s a grating tip for you. Hold the carrot by the small end and grate beginning with the big end. Doing so will maximize the amount or grated carrot you make. Eat the remaining little tip, yum.

Loosely pack the grated carrot in the measuring cup.

Put the carrots in the mixing bowl and mix on a low speed.

After the ingredients in bowl 2 are well mixed, pour the dry ingredients from bowl 1 into bowl 2.

Mix on low until just combined, (DO NOT OVERMIX).

My daughter has a great pair of 9″ cake pans. They are called springform pans. The outer edge of each pan can be removed from the baked cake.

Spray your 9″ round cake pans with cooking spray.

Lightly spray the bottom and the sides of each pan,

Pour the cake batter evenly into the 2 pans.

Pour half the batter in one pan, then half in the other pan.

Open the oven and place the pans on the center rack.

Notice my daughter is putting the pans on the top rack. She realized this then had to stop and reposition the rack while it was hot. Make sure you position the rack before you preheat the oven.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Check each cakes for doneness. You can use a toothpick to check this. Place a toothpick into the center of one of the cakes. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.

That shadow, (reminiscent of Jurassic Park)!

The toothpick is clean, so the cake is done.

Another way to tell if the cake is done, is you should be able to see it separate on it’s own, from the sides of the pan.

Remove the cakes from the oven and set to cool for 25 minutes in the pans. After this, remove them from the pans and place them on a rack to cool, (it is ok to cool them on the bottom of the springform pan). You will know they are completely cool when they are at room temperature. Check this by gently putting your clean hand on the top of one of the cakes.

These cakes are cooling on the bottoms of the springform pans.

Once cooled to room temperature, move a cake by turning it over, onto your hand then remove the pan bottom or the rack.

Dab a little frosting on the cake plate. This will prevent the cake from moving out of position while frosting.

Start frosting your cake. I have 2 cream cheese frosting recipes for you to try, (one dairy full and one dairy free). If you are low on time, you can always purchase a can of premade cream cheese frosting from the store.

Notice the frosting utensil. You can use whatever you like, but this type of device makes frosting a cake easier.

Frost the bottom cake layer, then place the 2nd layer on top.

The sides are easily cleaned up after the cake is fully frosted. You can use a utensil, a paper towel or your fingers, (yum).

Frost the top and the sides.

See how nicely cleaned up the bottom of the cake looks?

Your cake is done. Close it up and save it for later, (or eat it all now, bwahahahahaha).

If you want to keep the cake fresh, you can close the top of the cake stand.
The brand of the cake stand seen here is Shannon by Godinger Crystal. The pattern is Dublin Crystal. This is the 4 in 1 Dome Cake & Punch Bowl.

I think my daughter and I will each have a piece now.

The cake serving utensil is from New Zealand. The handle is made with inlaid Pāua. Pāua is the Māori name given to 3 New Zealand species of large edible shell creatures that belong to the Haliotidae family.
The dishware is fine porcelain China, (made in Japan). The pattern is called Diane.

This is the dishware manufacturer’s stamp.
The dishware is discontinued, but Replacements lTD may have pieces that can be purchased.

After all your hard work, don’t forget to spoil yourself a little.

The flatware is called Aurora (Stainless) by Cambridge Silver. It is 100% nickel free, (identified on http://www.replacements.com as 18/0).
The pattern is discontinued, but pieces may still be purchased, if any are available, through this company.

Food always looks it’s best when presented well.

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