spiced carrot sheet cake with bourbon vanilla bean frosting
Holy nuts, it’s been a long week.
Every week’s been moving at lightspeed, so it’s not necessarily passing by too slowly – rather, many unfortunate occurrences have cycled through back to back. Starting on Sunday, when one side of my glasses decided to break. I guess that ended up being okay because I needed to update my prescription anyway.
I dunno, I don’t want to dive into immense detail here, but let’s just say there’s a few facets of life of which I’m quite tired, and all of them slapped me right in the noggen this week. I think it’s a full moon, actually. Maybe that’s a contributor.
On the bright side, we’ve had some lovely weather, which I probably mention every time I write a new recipe. And on the brighter side, we have carrot cake today, and it is a fucking good carrot cake. A pure rendition, with no frilly fillers that honestly tend to make the texture really bizarre – I just like a good ole spiced carrot-hued slice o goodness, you know?
The most intense carrot cake I ever ate was at Hugo’s Frog Bar in Chicago. Their desserts are mega-sized, and the carrot cake, according to the waitress, was literally 1/4 of a huge cake. No wonder it cost twenty bucks. The thing was well worth the hype despite its gargantuan frame, and I remember how delightful the heaps of frosting were. While I loved it while I ate it, I think the sheer volume of stuff within sort of turned me off the over-embellished carrot cakes of the world.
So, this carrot cake is very simplistic, using pantry staples and a big helping of fresh shredded carrots. The frosting is what sets this apart. Bourbon vanilla bean? Come on. Cream cheese based so extra silky with a bit of tang, warmed up with a splash of your favorite bourbon and swirled with pretty vanilla bean flecks. True decadence for springtime, Easter, or just a fucken shitty week.
Carrots Are For Nerds
Hey, beta-carotene is good for the eyeballs, so use that as your reason for baking this up one day.
Like I said, I omit the bevy of extras like raisins, coconut, and nuts to keep this a pretty unembellished carrot cake. The spice from the cinnamon and cloves, and the sweet brown sugar mingling with the shredded carrot are enough flavor and interest.
Start the cake as you usually would. Oil and sugar, then eggs, vanilla, and Greek yogurt for extra moisture. Then flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Finish by folding in those carrots.
A word about the carrots – use the finer setting of your box grater. Too large chunks will make the cake more crumbly. You can also roughly chop the carrots and toss them in your food processor to grind.
Pour the cake into a 9 x 13 inch pan lined with parchment, and bake it up. The house will smell wondrous and warming.
Bourbon Bro
Yep, The Bourbon Bro is back, because where there’s a place to splash in some booze, I’ll do it.
If you don’t like using alcohol in your cooking or baking, you can leave the bourbon out, but it pairs so nicely with the vanilla and I highly recommend you try it. Also, the vanilla bean paste is really nice. A bit more flavorful than normal extract, a little sweeter, and infused with the flecks from the actual vanilla bean, which create a beautiful texture.
Once the cake is totally cool (insert sunglasses here), beat the frosting components together and spread over the cake. I tried to do a cute pattern but totally failed, so going at it with a spatula (and sneaking a few licks here and there) does the trick.
For garnish, I kept it simple and lazy with chopped walnuts. I saw some candy carrot cake toppers that’d be quite adorable, or you can set some of the frosting and use food coloring to dye it orange, then draw little carrots atop the white frosting. According to J, it’s kind of not a carrot cake unless there’s a carrot or carrots piped in as decoration. I say: all you need to do is eat it to figure out if its carrot cake or not. Y’know?
Speaking of J, when I showed him photos of the cake, he claimed that “if I were the Easter bunny, I’d nibble the hell out of that cake.” Adorable, and flattering. Just imagine you loved one with bunny ears munching on little bits of cake. Awww.
One more note: this cake should be stored in the fridge if you plan to have leftovers from a midday bunny nibble. Cream cheese frosting is much more malleable than a standard buttercream, and will turn gooey if kept at room temp. When covered and chilled, it will last about 5 days. Theoretically. You’ll probably eat it well before that duration elapses!
Treid this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
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spiced carrot sheet cake with bourbon vanilla bean frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups finely shredded carrot (about 4-5 large carrots)
bourbon vanilla bean frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 stick salted butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp bourbon (optional)
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or use vanilla extract)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch cake pan with parchment.
- In a large bowl, beat together the oil and sugars until combined, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and Greek yogurt until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Mix in the flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, until just combined. Fold in the shredded carrot.
- Spread the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the center is set and an inserted toothpick emerges with just a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely.
- Make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, flour, vanilla bean paste, and bourbon (if using) until very smooth and creamy, about 4-5 minutes. Spread all over the cake. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts, slice, and serve!
