Julie Makes A Carrot Cake - or, Finger Food

I made my first carrot cake this past weekend! It was one of my more eventful baking sessions.

Bon Appetit's recipes are rather rewarding, since they force me to grow my kitchen skills (by requiring a new ingredient or technique in the preparation) and never end up less than delicious (a readership of foodies would expect no less!). So, I knew this carrot cake recipe was worth a try.

Preparing this cake felt more like cooking than baking.

• I had to use more counter surface and kitchen implements than the standard two-bowl baked good.
• You use oil, no butter. The initial mixture of oil, sugar, and eggs had a peculiar consistency, at once both gooey and stiff. They blended together effortlessly into a slick, grainy liquid base for the cake.
• I washed, peeled, and grated multiple carrots and ginger roots! Grating is a very satisfying and productive repetitive motion. I had three cups' worth of bright orange vegetable bits in no time, and a gloppy pile of ginger too. The ginger was an unexpectedly off-putting yellow.
• I chopped nuts with my beloved chef's knife. I couldn't find chopped walnuts at Whole Foods (?!), so I got to work with a cutting board, piles of entire nuts, and the 8" Wusthof. I was making good progress against the recipe's goal of 1.25 cups, and about ready to call it quits, when I decided the batter looked like it could use maybe a few more nutty bits. (Why would I ever think that? Stupid girl.) So, I put a few more nuts on the board and thrust the knife downward...

...into my left middle finger.

I didn't feel any pain at first. But then there was blood flowing onto the cutting board, and I understood that something bad was happening - because, why, look, that was a sizable flap of flesh hanging away from the finger itself. Cue running water over the wound. applying pressure to it, and holding the whole thing above my heart. After 20 minutes of that did nothing to staunch the flow, I switched to a hack-ish apparatus of bandaids, paper towels, and tightly wrapped rubber bands. While this ultimately did the job it was intended to do, it made my left hand useless. Your impatient blogger loved that! Buttering and flouring the pan, pouring the batter, and cleaning up the dinner-scale mess were all challenges. But I got it all done, with my finger throbbing out a frustrated heartbeat in accompaniment.

I also managed to whip up the maple cream cheese frosting! I especially love how the maple syrup replaced some powdered sugar.

So, how did it all turn out?

I was very happy with the output, as was its birthday-celebrating recipient! The cake had a pleasantly autumnal, slightly toasted taste. The toastiness came from the nuts, which surprised me a little; I did not roast them at all prior to baking. The spices I used - fresh and ground ginger; cinnamon, tripled - were pungent before I put the cake in the oven, but they mellowed out while baking and made a pleasantly even, subtly aromatic contribution. The carrots softened considerably, and weren't too noticeable in the finished product. The cake's edges were a tad crispy, while the insides stayed soft and chewy. I would not attribute this to overcooking - instead, the results were consistent with other oil-based baked goods I've seen (1369's peach granola muffin, anyone?), and I actually like that oily kind of crunchiness! The frosting wasn't too sweet, in keeping with the somewhat savory nature of the cake. It was very soft, both at room temperature and when chilled. The maple syrup only gave it a hint of maple flavor, which was just enough of a distinctive, sweet taste to offset the tang of the cream cheese - but, I would have liked a little more. You can't have too much maple syrup! 

The finger is also fine, healing marvelously. Consider my lesson learned re careful use of extremely sharp knives.

Lastly, I have recopied the recipe here in case anyone is interested in repeating it, with my minor modifications in italics. Happy (safe) baking!

• 2 C flour
• 2 t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1 C sugar
• 1 1/4 C canola oil
• 4 large eggs
• 3 C grated peeled carrots
• 1 1/4 C coarsely chopped walnuts
• 2 T minced peeled ginger
• dash of ground ginger
• (frosting) 10 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• (frosting) 5 T unsalted butter, room temperature
• (frosting) 2 1/2 C powdered sugar
• (frosting) 1/4 C maple syrup

1. Butter 2 9"-diameter cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with wax or parchment paper. Butter and flour the paper.
2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground ginger together.
3. Whisk the sugar and oil together in a large bowl until well blended. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Add the flour mixture to the oil mixture, and stir until blended.
5. Stir in the carrots, walnuts, and fresh ginger.
6. Divide the batter between the pans, and bake them for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.
7. Cool the cakes in their pans for 15 minutes; then, turn them out onto cooling racks and remove the wax or parchment paper. Let them cool completely.
8. (frosting) Beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy.
9. (frosting) Add the powdered sugar and maple syrup; beat until well blended.
10. (frosting) Chill until just firm enough to spread, roughly 30 minutes.
11. Frost and assemble the cake. Keep it chilled until 30 minutes before serving; the flavors do best at room temperature!