Week06 Carrot Spice Cake

 Carrot Spice Cake with Cream-Cheese Icing, Maple-candied Pecans, and Crystallized Ginger (couldn't fit it all into the title)

Moist, spicy, and sweet!

 I used to hate carrot cake as a child. I think it was because I never had really great carrot cake, only dry cheap american bakery versions, or if it was homemade, it was just "sheet-cake" which isn't so great. (baked in a large sheet to maximize servings).

Start with carrots of course! I love how it feels like it's going to somehow be healthy because it has veggies in it.

fresh carrots

Grate them.

grated carrots

 Start the batter, eggs, half white and half brown sugar, and one of the secret ingredients, apple sauce.

eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, oil, and apple sauce

Secret ingredient number two, crushed pineapple.

crushed pineapple

 After the batter is mixed well, I add the grated carrots.

batter ready for baking

 While it's in the oven, I start making the icing (which is cream cheese and powdered sugar and a bit of vanilla) but also the special toppings which really amp up the flavor. Start with fresh ginger roots.

fresh ginger root

Peel and dice.

diced ginger root

Next you have to make and boil a sugar syrup, and boil the ginger root, then dry it in the oven for about an hour.

sugar syrup mixture

When the ginger is done boiling and drying, the sugar crystals have completely replaced the moisture in the ginger, which is why it's called crystallized ginger. It retains the strong ginger taste, but gains a sweetness, and can last for months because the water is gone. It can be eaten as a candy, but if chopped tiny, adds a great ginger taste to anything you like.

crystallized ginger

But wait, not done yet!  Next comes the pecans, and plain pecans are too.. plain. Instead, I roast them in browned butter and maple syrup to make Maple-candied Pecans.

Maple-candied pecans

So, cake is baked, cooled, iced with cream-cheese icing, crystallized ginger is sprinkled, and maple-candied pecans added to the center. Finished!

Finished carrot spice cake.

The carrot spice cake is moist and dense, it has delicious cinnamon, and nutmeg flavors alongside the carrot taste. The cream-cheese icing is light and sweet, and the crystallized ginger gives it just the right ginger tang. The pecans are roasted and nutty with just a hint of maple.