Carrot and pecan layer cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting
Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person · ♥ 54K likes · 2M views · 24 min video
Read about layer cakes in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 454 g carrots
- 240 g buttermilk
- 325 g all purpose flour
- 6 g kosher salt
- 6 g baking soda
- 8 g baking powder
- ¼ tsp ground clove
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 226 g oil
- 1½ cup pecans
Toast the pecans in a 350 oven, on a timer, until very brown; move to a different tray to stop them toasting and cool. Leave the oven at 350.
Grate the carrots on a box grater, several skinny ones at once, discarding the nubs.
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger
Add the room-temperature buttermilk and vanilla extract to the carrots.
Peel the fresh ginger with a spoon, grate a tablespoon into the carrot mixture, stir and set aside.
- oil
Trace and cut parchment rounds, trimming inside the line about an eighth of an inch; lightly oil the pans and lay in the rounds.
Lining the cake pans
Crush the toasted pecans in a bag to a coarse meal with some larger pieces.
Crushing the pecans and the dry mix
Whisk together the flour, kosher salt, baking soda, baking powder, ground clove, ground ginger and cinnamon.
- 4 whole large eggs
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
With the whisk attachment, beat the eggs with both sugars on low to break up the yolks, then medium-high until light, thick and falling in a slowly dissolving ribbon.
With the mixer running, stream in the oil slowly so it emulsifies.
Streaming in oil; alternating wet and dry
Switch to the paddle and add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the wet in two, starting and ending with dry. Scrape the sides; the batter is fairly liquid.
- 1 lb Philadelphia cream cheese
Weigh 595 g (one pound five ounces) of batter into each pan; bake on racks in the upper and lower thirds, staggered so no pan sits directly above another, rotating and turning the pans partway, about half an hour.
- butter
Brown the butter in a saucepan: medium-high to melt and boil, then lower the heat as the water boils off, stirring and scraping often with a flexible spatula, until deep golden; transfer out of the pan so it does not burn.
Browning the butter
Stir the brown butter in the stand mixer bowl over an ice bath until opaque but still soft.
Cooling the butter over ice
- vanilla bean
- kosher salt
- 1 bag powdered sugar
Add the room-temperature cream cheese and mix on low until smooth; add the seeds of the vanilla bean and a generous pinch of kosher salt.
Cream cheese, vanilla bean and salt
Add the whole pound of powdered sugar, pulse with a towel over the bowl, then beat until smooth.
If the frosting is too loose to hold a peak, chill the bowl, stirring every few minutes, until it holds a soft peak.
Firming a loose frosting
Line a cake stand with parchment strips, anchor the first layer with a dollop of frosting, spread about a cup of frosting to the edge, stack the next layer, check it is level and aligned, and repeat with another cup or so.
Stacking and filling the layers
Frost the top and sides loosely with swirls; chill again to set the final layer.
The final swirly coat
Slide out the parchment and slice straight down, cutting a little past the middle for a clean point.