Carrot Cake

There's nothing quite like a great carrot cake. The cake is moist and sweet, but also a little savory. And the icing is buttery, sweet, and tangy. It's the perfect dessert. 

Carriage House Farm's take uses the sweetest carrots picked from the garden the same day and adds a little zip with freshly grated ginger. Enjoy!

Ingredients

for cake:
1½ cups (3 sticks) melted butter, plus more for pans
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2½ cups (12 ounces) pureed carrots
3 large eggs, room temperature
⅓ cup nonfat buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1 TBSP freshly grated ginger
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

for icing:
1 lb (4 cups) powdered sugar
½ cup salted butter
8 oz. cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Butter two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper and butter. Dust pans with flour and tap out any excess. Set aside.  

Roughly chop carrots, then process in a food processor until they are cut down to tiny pieces that look like very heavy sand. Place carrots, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, sugar, and ginger in a large bowl; mix until well combined.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until combined. Fold in the butter.

Divide batter between the two cake pans and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Remove pans from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Turn cakes out onto rack; let stand until completely cool.

Make icing. Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a mixer until blended. Add the powered sugar a cup at a time and continue to mix until sugar is fully incorporated.

Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes so surfaces are level. Place a layer on a cake stand or cardboard round and spread 3/4 cup frosting over top. Place the second cake layer on top and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of assembled cake. Transfer to refrigerator and chill 3 to 4 hours.