CY's VERY CARROT-Y 🥕CARROT CAKE

To be honest, I don’t really like carrots (except the Norwich Meadows Farm carrot dish from Upland), but I LOVE carrot cake. We somehow found ourselves with 5 LBS OF CARROTS, le sigh, so I had no choice but to figure out how to make a very carrot-y carrot cake!

INGREDIENTS:

Cake

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (250g)

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

• 2 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• 4 large eggs, room temperature

• ½ cup vegetable oil (112g)

• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted (113g)

• ¾ cup granulated sugar (100g)

• 1 ¼ cup brown sugar, tightly packed (250g)

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce (250g)

• ½ cup Greek yogurt (125g)

• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

• 3 cups grated carrot (425g)

• 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (125g)

• 1 cup chopped walnuts (125g), optional

Frosting

• 1 ½ lbs whole milk ricotta, strained overnight and then whipped in food processor

• 5 oz unsalted butter, room temperature

• Zest of ½ lemon

• Zest of ½ orange

• 1 tsp ginger powder

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 tsp cornstarch

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• ¼ tsp fine sea salt

Candied Walnut Topping

• 1 cup walnuts (100g)

• ½ cup granulated sugar (68g)

• ½ tsp fine sea salt

• Juice from ½ orange

Bake the cake:

Preheat oven to 325º. Prepare 2 9” baking pans: spray lightly on bottom and sides with non-stick cooking spray then line bottoms with parchment paper, then lightly spray parchment paper with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger & salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs. Then add oil, melted butter, sugars, applesauce, yogurt and vanilla. Mix together, scraping down sides. Add coconut. Continue mixing, allowing coconut to hydrate a little in the liquid mixture. Add grated carrots. Mix together until everything is well-combined.

Add flour mixture to stand mixer and mix until barely combined. Scrape flour down sides into the batter. Add nuts, if using, then mix again until just interspersed.

Fold batter once or twice with a spatula to make sure everything is mixed through. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Make sure to tap pans down so cakes bake evenly. Bake 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 min, then remove from pans and cool in refrigerator.

Make the frosting:

In the bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment, whip room temperature butter until aerated and volume has increased. Add whipped ricotta then continue to whisk until combined. Add remainder of frosting ingredients. Whip until smooth. Make sure to scrape sides and bottom of bowl and give it another mix. Keep bowl of frosting in refrigerator until ready to use.

Make the candied walnuts:
In a large skillet, stir together the walnuts, sugar, salt and orange juice. Cook over medium heat until the sugar begins to melt into the juice and the walnuts begin to toast, stirring frequently. Once the sugar begins to melt, turn the heat a touch lower, watching that the sugar doesn’t burn and is coating the nuts. Cook until the walnuts are lightly caramelized and fully coated. Spread the nuts onto a baking sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper. Allow them to cool completely before chopping finely.

While nuts are cooling, frost the cake. Put one cake on a plate or cake stand. Scoop a generous dollop of frosting onto the center and spread a thick layer evenly across the top. Place 2nd cake on top. Repeat, getting all the sides with the frosting. Refrigerate once top and sides are fully frosted.

Chop candied walnuts finely, then place nuts around the sides and top edge of the cake. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.