Kai and The Kitchen

Recipes and Musings of Food and Life

The World's Best Carrot Cake | kaiandthekitchen.com

42 Baking

If you’re on a diet, I don’t carrot all {the world’s best carrot cake}

Jump to recipe

The first time I made this carrot cake it looked like an atomic bomb went off in my kitchen. But there I was, covered in flour, cream cheese in my hair, putting the final touches on the frosting and I was BEAMING. I had done it. I had made the best carrot cake of all time and lived to tell the tale.

Now, let me set the record straight. I am not necessarily a baker. I am becoming one, but you must know, baking is not my strongest suit. You see, baking works in a way that is very different than how I cook. It requires measurements and recipes, and sticking to recipes and more measurements. And always knowing where your tablespoons are. For someone who frequently can’t find her tablespoons, baking can be a challenge. I love to cook because it allows me to be creative and rarely completely fail at a recipe. With baking…creativity can sometimes result in deflated cakes and paper thin cookies. So, I’m taking this whole baking thing slow.

Back to the cake. This carrot cake recipe has very much been a part of my life since I graduated college. My friend Kathryn brought this cake to a birthday party for my group of girlfriends and then she never heard the end of it. It was the best cake we had ever had. We would beg her to make the cake for every special occasion. We would beg her to make the cake for every non-special occasion. The thing you must know about Kathryn is, she is a baker. An amazing baker. So when the time came for me to make the cake myself, I was intimidated. Could I achieve this level of mastery? Maybe. And then I did it. Yes, it took me the entire day and my kitchen was destroyed, but I did it! And so can you.

One of the secrets to this cake is a buttermilk glaze that is poured on each of the three layers of cake before they get frosted. The glaze gives the cake a whole new level of flavor and makes a cake that is already moist, absolutely delectable. Between each of the  layers is amazing homemade cream cheese frosting that will have you shamelessly licking your plate once you’ve finished your slice. When it comes to this cake, your slice by the way, can NEVER be too big. We brought the cake to a restaurant once where they cut the cake for us and presented each of us with a tiny meager sliver. Faces around the table turned ashen. Eyes welled with tears. Grown women stood up and threw their napkins. The only reason any of us went to the dinner was with the promise of the cake in mind. “IS THIS A JOKE!?!?” Never, and I mean never, serve anyone a small slice of this cake. Unless, you don’t mind cutting seconds.

Now, it’s time to get started. Don’t be intimidated. You are about to embark on a 14 hour baking journey with astonishing results. Keep your eye on the prize. I’m kidding, the whole thing should only take you about 2 hours.

Step 1: Waxing poetic. Line 3 (9-inch) round cakepans with wax paper. The easiest way to do this is to cut three pieces of wax paper and then trace the outline of one of the pans in pen. Use this as a stencil to cut the remaining circles. Lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.

Step 2: You’re off to a grate start. Many carrot cake recipes will call for you to painstakingly grate carrot for 5 hours. This happened to me the first time I made this recipe. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Throw your peeled baby carrots in the food processor and pulse until they are tiny little pieces, like those pictured below.

Step 3: Sir Mix-A-Lot. Now Sir or Madame Mix-A-Lot, it’s time to put that name to good use. Get ready to mix a lot. Stir together your first 7 ingredients — flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

Step 4: Wet ingredients. Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients (eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract) at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in carrot and next 3 ingredients. Pour batter into prepared cakepans.

Step 5: Fake it ’til ya bake it. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. As your cakes bake you are going to make your buttermilk glaze.

Step 6: Glaze you like I should. To make the glaze bring the first 5 glaze ingredients to a boil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Boil, stirring often, 4 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Drizzle your buttermilk glaze evenly over  the cake layers; cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

Step 7: I scream, You scream, We all scream for cream cheese. It’s time to make your cream cheese frosting. Beat your softened butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Then add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Taste test a few times. The taste test is a very crucial step. This will give you the energy you need to frost the cake.

Step 8: Frost. First, let your cake cool completely. I would consider myself an over-cooler because the idea of the cream cheese frosting melting off the cake I just spent half a century  2 hours making is very traumatic to me. Once you are certain the cake has cooled spread the frosting between the layers and on top and sides of cake.

And there you have it. The best carrot cake of all time. Now wasn’t that….a piece of cake. 

 

42