Carrots and Raisins

Carrot cake is one of my favorites. It's not too sweet, you can put raisins in it and the frosting is pretty delicious with it. I made this the night before leaving for Russia this past summer. I was trying to decide what recipe I should use. I had The Joy of Cooking and Baking Illustrated (America's Test Kitchen) recipes in front of me. I decided to use America's Test Kitchen's recipe. It was really easy and turned out really well.

The recipe is straight from Baking Illustrated. (It is an awesome book.)

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups (12.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1 pound (6-7 medium) carrots, peeled

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed (3 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups canola oil

Directions:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position; heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 by 9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray the parchment.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Grate the carrots (should turn out to be about 3 cups).

4. Add the carrots to the bowl with dry ingredients and set aside.

5. Use a food processor (I used a mixer. Cleaning the food processor is too much work.) to mix both sugars and eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined. With the machine running, add the oil through the feed tube in a steady stream. Process until the mixture is light and color and ell emulsified, about 20 seconds longer. Scrape the mixture into a large bowl.

6. Stir in the carrots and dry ingredients until incorporated and no steaks of flour remain.

7. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Cool the cake to room temperature in the pan on a wire rack, about 2 hours.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened but still cool

5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened but still cool

1 tbsp sour cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. When the cake is cool, process the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla in a clean food processor until combined, about 5 seconds, scraping down the workbowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the confectioners' sugar and process until smooth, about 10 seconds.

2. Run a paring knife around the edge of a cake to loosen it from the pan. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, peel off the parchment, then invert it again onto a serving platter. (You might not have a serving platter big enough for the cake, but everyone should have cardboard boxes and foil. I took a box and covered it with foil and used that as the platter.) Using an offset spatula, spread the frosting evenly over the surface of the cake.

3. Cut into squares and serve.

Eleanor: Good-bye, Steve.
Steve: Don't say that, even if it's true. Don't say that. It's too painful.

Eleanor: What do you want me to say?

Steve: Say bon voyage.

Eleanor: Bon voyage.