Carrot Cake

Luckily, carrots are delicious, since, as I mentioned in the previous post, I have a lot of carrots. They’re delicious and really, really useful. Utilitarian, even. But for some unfathomable reason, I can’t remember that I’ve ever made a carrot cake. Not in this year of beautiful carrots nor any other day, month, or year. What the heck is wrong with me?

I’m happy to say that at least some problems are easy to fix. I did eventually make carrot cake. While I didn’t go for a fancy, double layer beauty, I happily stirred together a sheet cake, or perhaps I’d call it a snack cake, since it was in a 13 x 9-inch pan rather than a sheet pan. Armed with trusty resources, I wasn’t even worried that this wouldn’t be good, and I wasn’t disappointed. 

There were two recipes for frosted, single layer carrot cake printed side by side in Pillsbury: The Complete Book of Baking, one with a coconut frosting that I knew my husband wouldn’t eat, and one that was lightened up to such a level that it even called for a cholesterol-free product instead of whole eggs. I sort of combined the two, picking the lower oil level of the lighter cake as well as it’s cream cheese frosting (well, a similar frosting, anyway), and leaving in the eggs and the nuts from the other version.

This is a delicious carrot cake, perhaps more traditional than innovative. There is probably room for some variation, though, if you want to change things up. I love this the way it is, moist and durable, loaded with quite a few healthy things despite it’s unflinching dessert quality. Cake is a great place to put carrots, but I also like all of the other accompaniments in this recipe, the pineapple bits giving a burst of fruit to every bite, sweet raisins, and nuts.

Of course, the cream cheese frosting makes it all even better. I’d eat that stuff on a stick. 

 

Carrot Snack Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Pillsbury: The Complete Book of Baking

For the cake:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup canola oil (or other neutral tasting oil)

2 eggs

8 ounces crushed pineapple, undrained

2 cups shredded carrots

½ cup raisins

½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

For the frosting:

3 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray or grease it as you like. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk together to combine well. Set aside.

3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the sugar, oil and egg. Wisk together until very smooth and fluffy. Stir in the pineapple and vanilla.

4. Pour the sugar mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the carrots, raisins, and walnuts or pecans.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with just a few wet crumbs attached, no wet batter.

6. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

7. To make the frosting, combine the butter and cream cheese in a medium-size bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer until very smooth. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until very smooth. Spread over the cooled cake.

Makes about 16 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, Zucchini Multigrain Coffee Cake, Beet and Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Curry Carrot Soup

My winter CSA subscription has had my kitchen looking like Bugs Bunny’s Apocalypse bunker. There are so many carrots! But they’re absolutely fabulous carrots, wonderfully sweet, super fresh, consistently the best carrots I’ve ever had. It’s been a pleasure to collect them, really.

Back in January on a deep, dark, very cold evening, I invited friends for an informal gathering, complete with soup, biscuits, cookies (a version of these and some of these, unfrosted), and a viewing of a particularly stunning Rifftrax episode. I made gigantic batches of a basic vegetable soup and this delightfully orange, thick and creamy Curry Carrot Soup. To my very pleasant surprise, the Curry Carrot Soup was gigantic hit, and it disappeared rather quickly.

Since I followed my usual habit of just “throwing something together” without writing anything down, I had to try to piece together what I did later, and I think I came pretty close. I also put a few twists into the official recipe that were things I had meant to do, but couldn’t, like squeeze in some lime juice (I used a lemon originally, because it was all I had) and add more spice (I wasn’t sure what my guests would like.)

This soup is actually rather simple in construction, and really is mostly made of carrots. It is quite thick and very smooth and creamy if you blend it well, and you could adjust the consistency with more broth or water. It is vegetarian as it is, but you could use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth if you like. You could also increase the oil and omit the butter, and replace the cream with coconut milk or leave it out to make it vegan. I love the warm, earthy spice of lots of curry powder in this, but if you have a favorite homemade spice blend, so much the better. The seasonings and spice level can be adjusted to taste.

I had the absolute honor and pleasure of making several people happy with a big batch of this soup, and they will never know that this creation was inspired by a need to clean up a huge bunch of carrots. Oops, I guess the cat is out of the bag now. Or the carrots. The many, many carrots.

Curry Carrot Soup

Adjust the seasonings to your personal taste, or make this vegan by leaving out the cream and butter. You could replace the cream with coconut milk.

This recipe can be doubled. Just make sure you have a large enough pot to cook it in.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

2 teaspoons coarse salt

3 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons curry powder

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 cups vegetable broth or water

Juice of 1 lime

½ cup heavy cream or half and half

Sour cream or plain yogurt for serving, optional

1. Combine the butter and olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Heat over medium heat until butter is melted.

2. Add the onion, celery, and salt and saute about 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent, but not yet browning. Stir in the carrots, curry powder and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook and stir 8-10 minutes, or until the carrots are beginning to get softer around the edges.

3. Pour in the water or broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and cook at a low boil for 30-40 minutes, or until the carrots are very soft.

4. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. In batches, carefully transfer the mixture to a blender. Blend until very smooth. Return the pureed mixture to the pot on the stove.

5. Reheat the soup gently over low heat. Stir in the lime juice and heavy cream. Taste the soup for seasoning, especially for salt and curry, and adjust as desired. Serve with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt if desired.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Cream of Carrot and Parsnip Soup, Creamy White Onion Soup, Spicy Carrot and Apple Soup with Coconut Milk, Creamy Cabbage and Potato Soup, Potato and Garlic Scape Soup with Chives

Coming soon: Carrot Cake and Rye Soda Bread

Savory Carrot Pie

I wasn’t sure if I was going to post this recipe. My first bite was mediocre, or so I thought, but more bites led to more appreciation and more pleasure, and I even found the leftovers to be better still. This is another version of the seasonal vegetable quiche-like pies I bake for supper when I feel like I have a little extra ambition.

The new, super-sweet carrots showing up in farmer’s markets just about now are perfect for this pie, which is savory, though based on that sweeter combination of ricotta cheese and sautéed onions along with those carrots. The savory-ness is punched up by Dijon mustard and cheddar cheese, which complements the carrots and ricotta very well. I flavored this dish mildly with a bit of parsley (because that’s what I had on hand), but I think other herbs, such as tarragon or dill, would be even better.

 

The crust for this pie needs to be partially baked before the filling is added. I used this method to blind bake it and I used half of the dough recipe in this post. You could use your favorite recipe for the pastry and your favorite method of blind-baking the crust.

While the flavor of this pie is like a slightly sweet, vegetable-filled omelet, the texture is that of a dense quiche. The extra density is from that hefty dose of ricotta. I used a part-skim ricotta in my pie, which I thought made the texture a bit gritty. As the pie stood longer, however, I found it to feel a bit smoother, which the reheated leftovers being even better. This makes me a firm believer in the instruction to allow the pie to stand a good 15 minutes before being cut into and enjoyed. It will still be plenty hot, and the settled, improved creaminess of the rested pie will be worth the wait.

Savory Carrot and Ricotta Pie

The blind baking method I used for the crust of this pie is outlined in detail in this post.

Crust for a single crust pie (I used this one), rolled out

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup thinly sliced onion

¼ teaspoon coarse salt

1 ½ cups shredded carrot

1 tablespoon dry sherry

¼ cup chopped parsley

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 eggs

1 cup ricotta cheese

½ cup milk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle and place it in a 9-inch pie pan, being careful not to stretch it. Gently prick the crust all over with a fork. Line the crust with foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Place pie weights on top of the foil. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the foil and weights. Bake 5-8 minutes more or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven. (The filling can be prepared while the crust is baking.) Reduce oven heat to 350 F.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes, or until the onion is beginning to brown. Stir in the carrot and sherry. Cook and stir about 2 minutes more. Stir in the parsley and black pepper. Remove from the heat.

3. In a medium-size bowl, beat the eggs. Beat in the ricotta cheese and milk. Stir in the carrot and onion mixture.

4. Brush or spread the Dijon mustard over the baked pie crust. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the mustard. Pour the egg mixture over the crust.

5. Place the filled pie plate on a large baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes before slicing to serve.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Chard Tart with Feta Cheese and Olives, Corn and Green Onion Tart with Bacon, Ricotta Tart with Peppers and Onions, Summer Squash Galette with Ricotta and Feta

One year ago: Pea and Almond Pesto with Pasta and Peas