I recently received a request to make a carrot cake for a going-away party at work, and I was happy to have the opportunity to try out a new carrot cake recipe. I wanted to stay pretty traditional (no coconut, no pineapple), so I decided to try the recipe for Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from epicurious.com.
I made the cake itself without any modifications, except that I divided my batter between only two round baking pans instead of three. My oven is not large enough to fit three cake pans on a single rack, and I always bake on only one rack at a time to avoid getting inconsistent results. Even though my cake layers were a little thicker, they still finished baking in only 45 minutes. I also skipped the frosting recipe and stuck with my favorite cream cheese frosting of all time -- the one from the epicurious.com recipe for Pumpkin-Raisin Bars. It's easy to spread, not too sweet, full of cream cheese tang, and I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like it. I took the easy way out when it came to frosting the cake, and I pressed toasted pecans into the sides so that I didn't have to bother with trying the make the sides look too neat. The swirl on top is easy to achieve by holding the tip of an offset spatula at an angle against the frosting while you turn the cake on a turntable and slowly move the spatula in towards the center.
The cake itself was very moist and certainly above average. However, I don't think it would be all that interesting to eat on its own. The cake (like most carrot cakes, I think) really needs the cream cheese frosting to carry it through. But the combination of the cake and frosting together was quite delicious and I'm sure would be appreciated by any carrot cake connoisseur.
Recipe: Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from epicurious.com. (Frosting recipe from Pumpkin-Raisin Bars from epicurious.com.)
I made the cake itself without any modifications, except that I divided my batter between only two round baking pans instead of three. My oven is not large enough to fit three cake pans on a single rack, and I always bake on only one rack at a time to avoid getting inconsistent results. Even though my cake layers were a little thicker, they still finished baking in only 45 minutes. I also skipped the frosting recipe and stuck with my favorite cream cheese frosting of all time -- the one from the epicurious.com recipe for Pumpkin-Raisin Bars. It's easy to spread, not too sweet, full of cream cheese tang, and I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like it. I took the easy way out when it came to frosting the cake, and I pressed toasted pecans into the sides so that I didn't have to bother with trying the make the sides look too neat. The swirl on top is easy to achieve by holding the tip of an offset spatula at an angle against the frosting while you turn the cake on a turntable and slowly move the spatula in towards the center.
The cake itself was very moist and certainly above average. However, I don't think it would be all that interesting to eat on its own. The cake (like most carrot cakes, I think) really needs the cream cheese frosting to carry it through. But the combination of the cake and frosting together was quite delicious and I'm sure would be appreciated by any carrot cake connoisseur.
Recipe: Triple-Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from epicurious.com. (Frosting recipe from Pumpkin-Raisin Bars from epicurious.com.)
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