The Best Carrot Cake You Ever Put In Your Mouth, via Kimberley

Note: the BFF and I routinely use this blog as our shopping list on the go, and we've finally gotten 'round to parking her AMAZING freaking carrot cake recipe here. The following is simply a testament to my copy & paste skills.

I love Margaret and she asked me to make her a carrot cake for her birthday.  Because I wanted to make sure it was good (cuz I luff her like that, and I'd never hear the end of it if I served a crap cake), I made and trashed 3 cakes until I came up with this combination. This recipe is the end result of a reading a few recipes on line and experimenting a bit until I was satisfied.  I have easy access to a farmer's market and I try to buy organic whenever possible.  It really does make a difference in the flavor of the end product.  

The Carrot Cake of Awesomeosity

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon (yes, I grate fresh cinnamon sticks)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (ayup, I grate this fresh, too)
1 tablespoon-ish freshly grated ginger root (I've never measured this, I typically choose a piece roughly the size of my thumb)
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
4 extra large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cup organic, raw, turbinado sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2/3 cups firmly packed organic brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract ( I make my own )
1 pound finely grated organic carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (+ another 1/2 cup for garnish if you want)
1 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prepare 3 9-inch cake pans, lightly coating with oil and lining with parchment paper.  Seriously, this is important, and makes un-panning your cakes super easy.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together.  Set aside.

Mix the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until Incorporated.  Let the batter sit for about 10 minutes. Stir in carrots, ginger, nuts and raisins just until evenly distributed through the batter.

Divide the batter into the three pans and bake on the center rack for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.  You can bake in 2 pan for deeper layers, adjust baking time to 35-40 minutes.

Cool cakes in their pans for at least 30 minutes before attempting to remove them.  Then peel off the parchment paper and continue to cool the cakes completely before frosting.

Speaking of frosting...

Best f*cking cream cheese frosting. EVAR.

This is my take on the cream cheese frosting typically used on THE Italian Cream Cake.  It's an especially nice twist to the typical cream cheese frosting and not what folks will expect when they take that first bite. 

16 oz of cream cheese, softened (room temperature)
4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (room temperature)
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3-4 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth, add extracts and beat until incorporated.  slowly beat in sugar, 1 cup at a time until frosting has the flavor and consistency you want.

To assemble the cake, place the bottom layer on a cardboard round or other flat cake plate.  Scoop out about 1 cup of frosting and spread evenly.  Add the next layer and repeat. Third layer put the rest of the frosting on top and carefully ease it down the sides. I am not so great at the fancy frosting thing so I use the extra 1/2 cup of nuts to hide that.  Be sure the cake is well chilled before cutting.

Note: This is a really rich cake, it easily serves 10-12 people.