Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake #2

This is a great carrot cake recipe.

I found this recipe in the I'm Just Here For More Food, by Alton Brown 2004.
It's a very tasty cake, but of course I've modified it! This variation is lower in fat than my other carrot cake, and it's a bit denser.

Note: The original recipe was in terms of grams (which is a good thing for dry ingredients), but I've modified the recipe and so some measurements are by volume. Sorry if this makes it more confusing.
Enjoy...

Ingredients:
240 grams flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoons soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

225 grams carrots, grated
1/4 cut raisins
1/2 cup walnut pieces

1 container (3/4 cup) whole-fat vanilla yogurt,
300 grams sugar
2 liquid ounces vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions:
Prepare a 10 inch diameter, 3 inch tall pan by spraying with PAM and then flouring.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Dump flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon into food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Dump into a large mixing bowl.

Add carrots and raisins to flour. Mix on low for a few second until mixed. Add walnuts and stir briefly.

In a food processor, mix yogurt, sugar, oil and eggs. Run for 1 minute or so -- the sugar needs to be dissolved.

Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon -- don't over mix.

Turn into pan.

Bake 45 minutes and test cake by using an instant read thermometer in the center of the cake -- it's done at 200-205 degrees. The probe should come out cleanly.

If not yet done, reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and cook for another 5-10 minutes and retest.

Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before turning out onto cake plate. Allow to cool completely (at least 1 hour) before you frost it.

Cover and refrigerate.

Note: I like my variation better than Alton Brown's original because the raisins and walnuts make the flavor more complex -- and perhaps a bit sweeter. My next variation will be to add some crushed pineapple and perhaps cocoanut. I also think I'll try a bit less carrot and a bit more flour so the cake is a bit less dense.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 8-oz package cream cheese
250 grams powdered sugar -- sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cut the butter and cream cheese into pieces in a large mixing bowl. Allow to soften. Cream together at 50% power until smooth. Add the vanilla and beat at 75% speed until well integrated. Stop mixer and add powdered sugar. Initially mix at very slow speed and then beat until smooth.

This is a bit too much frosting for this cake, but that just means you have a few bites to eat while the cake is cooling in the refrigerator!

Serves 8-12.