Thursday, January 8, 2009

Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

I was set on making a carrot cake after trying one that was plain nasty. It was stodgy & dry, and the frosting practically jumped of the cake in layers. Since I'm on a self-imposed ban on chocolaty & calorific stuff, I figured that if carrot cake contain a vegetable, they must be quite healthy for you right? This cake is also for this month's theme challenge (layer cakes) at bakebakebake.
So I whipped out my new mixer and prepared my mise en place. As usual, I fiddled around with my last carrot cake recipe to make things, well, more low-fat.
Triple-Layer Carrot Cake
A lighter/less fattening version of the perennial favourite carrot cake.

360g unbleached flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t ground cloves or allspice
1/2 t sea salt
250g brown sugar
3 eggs
3 T honey
125 ml olive oil
450g grated carrots
1 C walnuts, rum-soaked raisins

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together dry ingredients. On medium speed, beat eggs and sugar until thick, about 3 minutes. Gradually pour in the olive oil and beat until thoroughly emulsified. Add the honey and mix well. Toss the grated carrots, raisins and nuts into the dry ingredients to coat the carrots with flour. Using a large spatula, fold that into egg mixture. Divide the batter into cake pans and bake for 35 min until golden.

Cinnamon-Rum Syrup
Combine 1 t ground cinnamon and 3 T sugar and 3 T water. Cook until dissolved & syrupy.

Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
350g cream cheese
70g unsalted butter
200g confectioner's sugar
60 ml lime juice
vanilla extract to taste

Beat everything together until smooth. Chill for 1/2 hour.

To assemble:
Slice cakes horizontally into layers. Brush the layers with cinnamon-rum syrup. Fill & frost the cake with cream cheese frosting. Chill 1 hour until cake is set. I also sliced some fresh nectarines to decorate the top.

4 comments:

  1. you have an incredibly cute dog. great spiral on the nectarine btw--looks yummy, perfect layer proportions :)

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  2. Wow! It looks really delicious.

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  3. Oh wow this cake looks amazing. Just found your blog and I love it! :)

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  4. Hi!

    I chanced upon your blog.

    The carrot cake looks really nice! And I like your pictures! :)

    bimmer
    www.mybakingblog.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete