Nothing says spring like a recipe made with freshly grown ingredients! Crunchy carrots make their debut in Martha Stewart’s sweet yet spicy carrot cake (for the recipe see hyperlink). I found this recipe to be quite good; the blend of spices and cream cheese icing made an excellent combination, creating the perfect dessert when paired with a nice cup of tea.
The cake was baked in the exact time the recipe said it would be, coming out moist, flavourful and carroty. The cake was not super sweet, but had a more spice filled flavour, due to the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. The lack of sweetness in the cake was good, as the cream cheese icing was very rich and sweet. The icing was also a little
runny; when the cake was assembled the second layer started sliding sideways due to the icing’s lack of hold; good thing the batter produced two layers of cake rather than three! Add more icing sugar to thicken icing, or if the icing would become too sweet, refrigerating runny icing before use for ten minutes or so should firm it up a bit.
All in all the cake turned out to be a magnificent, sweet, yet somewhat healthy, treat. Pecans can be applied to the outside of the cake for decoration, and for those who want more of a challenge icing carrots can be piped on (for a tutorial click here).
This recipe is great for those who are just starting out in baking, the recipe is straightforward and easy to follow. The only challenge during the preparation of this cake is stacking the cake together during assembly. If you’ve never made a layer cake before I’d recommend having someone else “spot” you while you put one layer on top of the other. Overall this is one of the better cakes I have made, and was surprisingly moist for a carrot cake, this combined with how simple it is to make, makes this recipe a keeper.
