The Best Carrot Cake In The World

This is my husband's favorite cake so it gets made a lot. For his birthday I make two 9" cake rounds and layer with cream cheese frosting. ~Cheryl

The Best Carrot Cake In The World

 

This is the best carrot cake I’ve ever tasted, it’s juicy, soft, full of wonderful aromas and not too sweet. You can garnish the cake with this creamy frosting that gives it a delicate sourness, but you can make it without the cream as well.

The Best Carrot Cake

Ingredients 

2 cups peeled and grated carrots
½ cup roasted pecans
⅓ cup raisins
1¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt (Fleur-de-Sel)
1¼ cups sugar
½ cup Muscovado sugar (or dark brown sugar)
1 cup canola/grape seed or other vegetable oil
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 large eggs

Creamy Frosting:

1¼ cups heavy whipping cream
⅓ cup confectioner's sugar
¾ cup Philadelphia cream cheese
½ cup Mascarpone cheese
pinch of ground cinnamon

Preparation 
1. Carrot Cake: Place the grated carrots, pecans and raisins in a food processor and process until chopped. Add 2 tbsp of the flour and process for a few seconds. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.
2. In the same processor bowl process together all the rest of the ingredients till smooth. Add the carrot mixture and process for a few seconds. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. line 2 x 19cm loaf pans with parchment paper.
4. Pour the mixture into the loaf pans and bake for 40-45 minutes or until just cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the pan.
5. Creamy Frosting: In a mixer bowl whip together cream, confectioner’s sugar, cream cheese, mascarpone and cinnamon until stiff peaks form.
6. If you want to get fancy, pipe the cream on the cake.
Tip: The cake can be kept for about a week out of the fridge, without the cream cheese. You can make the cream and not pipe it on the cake but serve it next to it, so the cake will last longer. 

Hôtel de Crillon Famous Chocolate Cake - Paris

This is a wonderful chocolate cake with no flour, so it's gluten-free. It's become quite famous and I needed somewhere to save it. Let me know how you like it!

8 oz (227g) best-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I used Callebaut, Valrhona, or Guittard)

8 oz (227g) unsalted butter

1 c (200g) granulated sugar

1½ t kosher salt

2 t vanilla extract

4 eggs, room temperature

cocoa powder and/or chocolate curls, for garnish

Grease an 8" or 9" round cake pan. Cut a parchment circle to fit in the bottom of the pan. Grease the parchment as well. Dust with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder and tap out the excess. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place chocolate, butter, and sugar in a microwave safe bowl. Carefully microwave in several 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until butter is melted and chocolate has softened (or melt using a double boiler). Remove and stir to melt chocolate and smooth mixture.

boiler). Remove and stir to melt chocolate and smooth mixture.

Add eggs, one at a time and whisk well after each addition. Whisk in vanilla and salt. Pour batter into pan and place pan into a larger cake pan or a baking dish. Fill larger pan with water to come 1/3 of the way up the sides of the cake pan. Bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool at least one hour.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Place a serving plate over pan and invert, carefully banging several times to dislodge the cake. Leave the parchment round on the cake and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the fridge, and let stand 30 minutes until sides are soft enough to be smoothed with a knife. Remove parchment round and sift cocoa powder on top. If desired, decorate with chocolate shavings. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Mana's Fudgy Pudding Cake (no eggs!)

Warm Fudgy Pudding Cake

Serves 6 to 8

For the cake:
1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (6 ounces) white sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces) milk, whole or 2%
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the pudding:
1/2 cup (4 ounces) white sugar
1/2 cup (4 ounces) brown sugar
1/4 cup (2 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (8 ounces) cold water

Vanilla ice cream for serving, optional

Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease or spray with non-stick cooking spray an 8"x"8 baking pan.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt through a fine-meshed strainer into a mixing bowl. Combine the milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients, and stir gently with a spatula just until no more dry flour is visible. Scrape this batter into the pan and smooth the top.

For the pudding layer, combine the white sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Pour over the cake batter and shake the pan to evenly distribute the sugars.

Pour the cold water over the sugars. Do not stir. Put the pan immediately into the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. As it bakes, the cake will rise to the top while the pudding forms beneath. The cake is finished baking when the edges of the cake turn dark brown and crispy, and when the top of the cake is shiny and dry to the touch.

Let the cake cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Scoop slices of cake and the pudding beneath into individual bowls and top with ice cream. Leftovers will keep refrigerated for up to a week and can be reheated for 20 seconds in the microwave.

Best served warm and with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Grandma Smith's Luscious Pound Cake

Grandma Smith made grandpa a pound cake every Saturday which he ate all week.

Set out 1/2 lb unsalted butter to soften
1/2 c. Oleo margerine
3 c. Plain flour (measure sifting)
1/2 t. Baking powder
3 c. Sugar with a dash of salt
5 eggs (room temperature)
1 c. Sweet milk (room temperature)
1 t. Vanilla
1 t. Lemon flavor, or zest from one lemon (not the juice) a(opt.)

• Directions: Cream butter, margarine and sugar then add eggs one at a time.
• Alternate dry with wet ingredients, beginning and ending with dry.
• Add vanilla and lemon flavor last.
• Pound cake must be cooked in a greased and floured tube pan (so it has a hole in the center).

Bake at 300° for 1 hr. Then turn down to 275° and cook 20-30 minutes more.

Don't open and close oven door or Bang around causing vibrations or cake could "fall"... but even if it does,  it's still good!

Stick a skewer in it to see if it's done.  Grandma would pull a long straw from hey broom to use. Remove and set on a cooler rack for 10 minutes then carefully turn over onto track to cool thoroughly. Hold your socks,  because you're not going to believe how yummy this is! 

Mana's Chocolate Applesauce Cake

(Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.)

Ingredients

   CREAM together  

1/2 cup butter, softened

1-1/2 cups sugar

ADD 2 eggs, 1 at a time, blending

    SIFT TOGETHER 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 c. baking cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Alternate adding dry ingredients with applesauce, beginning and ending with dry.

 2 cups unsweetened applesauce

 Mix together TOPPING:

 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

 1/2 cup chopped pecans

 2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

    In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture alternately with applesauce. Pour into a greased and floured 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Yield: 16 servings.

Heirloom Grandma Smith's Pound Cake

Grandma Smith made a pound cake every week for Grandpa and he'd eat it all week. I'm not a big cake lover, more of a pie girl, but Grandma's buttery, dense pound cake makes me weak in the knees. I dare not make it because it's just that good! When she or my mom made it, we children always had to tread lightly in the house, not making jarring vibrations or slamming doors that could "make the cake fall." Still don't understand that one. You shouldn't open the door of the oven until the cake is more than halfway baked. And even then, it's problematic if you keep opening the oven door every couple of minutes to check progress. Opening the oven door, you can interrupt the reactions that are kick-started by heat, which cause a cake to rise correctly. Falling means the middle of the cake kind of collapses in the middle because the air pockets collapse and the dense batter falls in. It's a chemical reaction. As the cake cooks, air bubbles are formed and existing air bubbles expand, as any substance does when it's heated. A cake that has fallen in the middle will be dense and kind of doughy in the middle and obviously doesn't look to great. Never stopped us from eating it though. An improperly calibrated oven is another falling hazard so invest in an oven thermometer if you take your baking seriously. Temperature is important. (Are you starting to think maybe you'll just buy a cake mix?  DON'T!  I'm telling you, this is totally worth it!)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. country butter (don't you dare use margarine!)
1/2 c. shortening
3 c. granulated sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. lemon extract or 2 t. Lemon zest 
3 c. sifted flour (I use cake flour)
1/2 t. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 c. milk (room temp)
6 eggs (room temp)

Directions:
Cream butter, shortening, sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and lemon extracts and blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between (always go one direction with the electric mixer and don't overbeat your batter. Just mix ingredients well. Sift together the dry ingredients and add slowly, alternating with the milk (wet ingredient). This is an important step so don't cheat! I'd usually alternate back and forth about 6 times, starting and ending with the dry ingredient.

Generously grease a tube cake pan with shortening, don't miss any spots, then sprinkle flour onto the greased pan and distribute but tilting back and forth until the flour is sticking to all the greased places. Don't use cooking spray or your cake won't come out of the tube pan. Pour your batter evenly into the large greased and floured tube pan and Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hrs or until you can stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean with no raw batter. Make sure when you start testing you are careful to open and shut the oven door gently. Don't laugh - you could make this sucker fall and then what would you do?! You'd eat it of course because it's insanely good whether it falls in the middle or not!!!! 

My mom sometimes made a thin lemony sweet drizzle to pour over the cake, but I like it just the way it is!