WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS What’s a collection of great carrot recipes without a carrot cake? This one is a showpiece: a sleek, stacked, dressed-up version of carrot cake with thin layers of light cake and a tangy cream cheese filling and frosting. We baked our cake in a rimmed baking sheet, sliced it into four pieces, and stacked them. The thin cake baked in only about 15 minutes. Using buttermilk powder in the cream cheese frosting both provided the desired tang and thickened the frosting to just the right consistency to hold the impressively towering creation together. To ensure the proper consistency for the frosting, use cold cream cheese. Shred the carrots on the large holes of a box grater or in a food processor fitted with the shredding disk. If your baked cake is of an uneven thickness, which can happen when baking a cake this way, adjust the orientation of the layers as you stack them to produce a level cake. Assembling this cake on a cardboard cake rectangle trimmed to 8 by 6 inches makes it easy to pick it up and press the pecans onto the sides.
Serves 12 to 16
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes (plus 1 hour chilling time)
INGREDIENTS
CAKE
- 1¾ cups (8¾ ounces) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1¼ cups packed (8¾ ounces) light brown sugar
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2⅔ cups shredded carrots (4 carrots)
- ⅔ cup dried currants
INSTRUCTIONS
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 18 by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet, line with parchment paper, and grease parchment.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves together in large bowl. Whisk sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in second large bowl until mixture is smooth. Stir in carrots and currants. Add flour mixture and fold with rubber spatula until mixture is just combined.
- Transfer batter to prepared sheet and smooth top with offset spatula. Bake until center is firm to touch, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Invert cake onto rack (do not remove parchment), then reinvert onto second rack. Let cake cool completely, about 30 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
FROSTING AND NUTS
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups (12 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
- ⅓ cup (1 ounce) buttermilk powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces cream cheese, cut into 12 equal pieces and chilled
- 2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped coarse
INSTRUCTIONS
- Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, sugar, buttermilk powder, vanilla, and salt on low speed until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Increase speed to medium-low, add cream cheese, 1 piece at a time, and mix until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Transfer cooled cake to cutting board, parchment side down. Using sharp chef’s knife, cut cake and parchment in half crosswise, then lengthwise, making 4 equal rectangles, about 8 by 6 inches each.
- Place 1 cake layer, parchment side up, on 8 by 6-inch cardboard rectangle and carefully remove parchment. Spread ⅔ cup frosting evenly over top, right to edge of cake. Repeat with 2 more cake layers, pressing lightly to adhere and spreading ⅔ cup frosting evenly over each layer. Top with remaining cake layer and spread 1 cup frosting evenly over top. Spread remaining frosting evenly over sides of cake. (It’s fine if some crumbs show through frosting on sides, but if you go back to smooth top of cake, be sure that spatula is free of crumbs.)
- Hold cake with your hand and gently press pecans onto sides with your other hand. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Transfer cake to platter and serve. (Cake can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours; bring to room temperature before serving.)
