Carrot Cake ~ Best Ever Bakery-Style

• Meat

  • 4 Wire cooling racks

• Produce

  • 3 cups Carrot, organic
  • 1 Carrots, organic
  • 3/4 cup Pineapple, fresh organic

• Refrigerated

  • 4 Eggs, large organic

• Baking & Spices

  • 2 cups All-purpose flour, pure organic unbleached
  • 1/2 tsp Allspice, organic ground
  • 1 tsp Baking powder, aluminum free
  • 1 tsp Baking soda, pure
  • 2 cups Cane sugar, organic granulated
  • 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon, organic ground
  • 1 tsp Eden sea salt, fine-grain such as
  • 1 Metal angled or offset icing spatula
  • 1 Metal icing spatula
  • 1/4 tsp Nutmeg, organic whole
  • 1 Nutmeg, organic
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract, pure

• Oils & Vinegars

  • 1 cup Sunflower oil, organic
  • 1 Sunflower oil

• Nuts & Seeds

  • 1/2 cup Coconut, organic unsweetened
  • 1 1/4 cups Walnuts, organic

• Bread & Baked Goods

  • 1 8-inch cardboard cake, round
  • 1 Cake turntable

• Dairy

  • 1 Recipes best ever cream cheese buttercream

• Tools & Equipment

  • 1 Wax paper

• Other

  • Three 8-inch by 1½- to 2-inch round cake pans
  • Piping bag, coupler and Wilton ® No. 21 star or 1M open star decorating tip, not necessary if no piping is desired

Found on wickedgoodkitchen.com

Description

Ingredients

• For the Carrot Cake
• 2 cups (about 250 grams) pure organic unbleached all-purpose flour, such as Hodgson Mill®, plus additional for dusting cake pans
• 2 cups (400 grams) organic granulated cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon (4.8 grams) aluminum free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (4.8 grams) pure baking soda
• 1 teaspoon (4.8 grams) fine-grain sea salt, such as Eden®
• 1½ teaspoons organic ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon organic ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated organic whole nutmeg
• 1 cup (about 220 grams) organic cold-pressed sunflower oil
• 4 large organic eggs (mine weighed 204 grams total w/o shells)
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups (300 grams) grated organic carrot, from about 4 large peeled carrots
• ½ cup (40 grams) organic unsweetened shredded coconut, such as Let’s Do Organic®
• ¾ cup (135 grams) finely diced fresh organic pineapple
• Extra sunflower oil for greasing cake pans
• For the Cream Cheese Buttercream
• 1 to 1½ recipes Best Ever Cream Cheese Buttercream, recipe by Wicked Good Kitchen
• For the Optional Cake Adornments
• 1¼ cups (about 138 grams) finely chopped organic walnuts, to decorate sides of cake
• Grated peeled organic carrots, to decorate top perimeter of cake
• Freshly grated organic nutmeg, to lightly dust top perimeter of cake
• Special Equipment
• Three 8-inch by 1½ to 2-inch round cake pans
• Four wire cooling racks, with the fourth used to flip cake layers right side up
• One 8-inch cardboard cake round, helpful but not necessary
• Cake Turntable, such as Ateco® or Wilton®, helpful but not necessary
• Metal Angled or Offset Icing Spatula, such as Ateco® or Wilton®, helpful but not necessary
• Metal Icing Spatula, such as Ateco® or Wilton®, helpful but not necessary
• Wax paper, for lining cake plate for icing & nut coating, helpful but not necessary
• Piping bag, coupler and Wilton ® No. 21 star or 1M open star decorating tip, not necessary if no piping is desired

Directions

• Prepare Carrot Cake: Arrange oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 325º F (or 165º C). Grease three 8-inch round cake pans with oil. Line bottoms with parchment or wax paper circles. Grease paper linings and dust lined pans with flour, tapping out the excess.
• Using an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer and large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices on low speed (stir) until well combined. Add oil, eggs and vanilla; mix on low speed (stir), scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary with rubber spatula. Beat on medium speed until well blended, about 1 to 2 minutes. Fold in carrots, coconut and pineapple and mix until thoroughly combined. Using rubber spatula, scrape and pour batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly (about 2 cups of batter per cake pan). Smooth tops evenly with rubber spatula.
• Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Run thin metal spatula around edges of each cake to loosen, then invert onto wire rack and peel away parchment or wax paper. Turn right side up onto wire racks (using an additional rack to flip); cool completely.
• Prepare the Cream Cheese Buttercream: Prepare according to recipe directions.
• Assemble and Ice the Cake: To frost and fill cake, use a scant ¾ to 1 cup frosting between each layer and then proceed to spread frosting over top and sides of cake neatly and evenly with remaining buttercream. You may do a crumb coat and then chill the cake for 30 to 45 minutes before completing the icing, if desired. However, if decorating the sides of the cake with nuts, skip the crumb coat because the nuts will hide any crumbs that may be showing.
• To Decorate the Cake: If decorating the cake, gently press finely chopped walnuts onto sides of cake. This is easy to do if the cake layers are assembled onto a cardboard cake round. Simply hold and balance the cake on the cake round in one hand and use free hand to press the nuts into the sides of the cake. Use a sheet of parchment or wax paper, or even a sheet pan, to catch the excess.
• If not using a cardboard cake round to hold the cake and press nuts into sides of cake, it is still easy to do. Simply line your cake plate or pedestal with four 4- to 5-inch wide strips of wax paper and use hand to press nuts onto sides of cake. The wax paper strips will catch the nuts that fall away. Turn the cake as you work (a cake turntable is helpful, but not necessary) all the way around. Once finished, scoop away the fallen nuts with spoon and pull the wax paper sheets away leaving a clean cake plate or pedestal.
• Pipe a simple or fancy border with your favorite tip (I used the 1M open star tip) around the perimeter of the top layer. Sprinkle grated carrot in a circle on top of the cake, just inside the piped border. If desired, lightly dust top perimeter of cake with freshly grated nutmeg.