Carrot Cake - Marcy Goldman

By mariannefeldman

http://betterbaking.com/viewRecipe.php?recipe_id=2552

Ingredients

• (c) A Marcy Goldman,�BetterBaking.Com Original Recipe
• www.BetterBaking.Com
• Marcy Goldman's Game Changing Carrot Cake
• to me so long to fix the obvious! Enjoy.
• Cake
• 1 1 1 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup oil
• Zest Zest of one orange, finely minced
• 2 1/4 2 1/4 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 4 4 eggs
• 1 1 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 2 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 teaspoon orange oil or pure orange extract
• 2 1/2 2 1/2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/8 1/8 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 1/8 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 2 1/2 2 1/2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 3 3 lightly packed cups shredded, parboiled carrots
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup diced pineapple, well drained
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup yellow raisins, plumped
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup dark raisins, plumped
• 3/4 3/4 3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
• Special Cream Cheese Icing
• 8 8 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 1 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 1 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 1 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1 1 tablespoon orange zest, finely minced
• 3-4 3-4 3-4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• Vanilla Orange Soaking Syrup
• 1 1 1 cup water
• 1 1 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 1/8 1/8 teaspoon lemon oil
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 teaspoon orange oil
• 1 1 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 2 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Finishing Touches
• Cinnamon
• Shredded carrots
• Cream cheese icing (leftovers) tinted brown with cinnamon, for border
• © This is a Marcy Goldman/BetterBaking.com original recipe

Preparation

Step 1

Place 3-5 medium carrots, trimmed and peeled, in a saucepan of water. Bring to the boil and let carrots cook until done 75% (they are tender but not fully cooked). Drain them and when you can handle then, hand-grate or shred and have 3 cups ready.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two 9 inch layer cake pans or one 10 inch springform pan. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

In a large mixer bowl, whisk together the butter, oil, orange zest, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and orange oil. In a smaller bowl, stir together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda. Fold flour mixture into wet ingredients; then add carrots, pineapple, raisins and walnuts, stirring well. Spoon into prepared pans.

Bake until cake(s) springs back when gently pressed - 60-70 minutes. Cool well. Then wrap gently and freeze 1-2 hours. For large cake, after freezing, split cake horizontally in two.

For the icing, in a mixer bowl, soften cream cheese and cream with butter. Stir in lemon juice, vanilla and citrus zest. Fold in confectioners' sugar to make a soft but spreadable icing. If it is too soft, add more icing sugar.

For the Vanilla Orange Syrup, heat the sugar and syrup to gently boil; then simmer 5 minutes. Cool and stir in citrus oils and lemon juice.

Semi-freeze the cake to make decorating easier. Trim top crust of cake and discard. Turn cake over so that flat bottom will ultimately be the top. Split cake in half horizontally.

Drench bottom generously with the Vanilla Orange Syrup. Spread on about 1-2 cups icing. Place second cake layer on top and gently press. Smear or brush on more syrup around cake top and sides. Frost cake and on the top of cake, smooth the surface and garnish with ground nuts and cinnamon, and extra, hand-grated fresh carrots in the center. Mix some cinnamon into some leftover icing and then using a star tip, pipe a border around top edge of cake.


Serves 12-14