Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Frosting

I have a confession to make but not one that I am ashamed of: I don't like cream cheese frosting. Don't try to convince me that it tastes good. You know what tastes good? Cream cheese on a bagel with red onion and lox. Now let's move on.

But if you are thinking, "it is not humanly possible to eat carrot cake without cream cheese frosting," you are incorrect. I promise you won't even think about it when you make this brown butter frosting. You may even forget about the carrot cake itself. Or where you are. OR if you are wearing pants. It is that good.

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Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Frosting
from Smitten Kitchen and Always with Butter

Carrot Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp table salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots

Brown Butter Frosting
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp molasses
pinch of salt
6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup milk

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray two 8"/9" (or three 6") cake pans and line with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended, stir in carrots. Divide batter evenly among cake pans.

Bake cakes for 40 minutes (but check as soon as 25/30 minutes), or until a tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Let cool in pans for five minutes or so, then transfer cakes to a cooling rack.

Make the frosting: Place butter in a pan over medium heat. Cook until the butter becomes a rich amber color and little brown flecks appear at the bottom of pan. Stir quite often as to not burn it. Pour into a bowl, scraping in the little brown flecks, and let set in the refrigerator until it is the consistency of softened butter.

Beat the butter, vanilla bean paste and molasses until combined. Add in half the powdered sugar and half the milk. Beat until combined. Add in remaining. Beat until very fluffy.

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Harvey's First Birthday

As much as I love baking for friends and family, I absolutely love baking cakes for a first birthday party. And it doesn't get much better than baking for Harvey at his lumberjack-themed party on a cold January day surrounded by his friends, family and his pet dog, Norman.

While I was lucky enough to celebrate with Harvey and see him in all his glory as he smashed his cake to bits, Erin from Hello Photo Photography did an amazing job capturing the day, messy baby and all.

Apple Cake

Maybe you're like me and have had a deep rooted desire to bake an apple cake in a Star of David shaped pan since you were little. Or perhaps you showed up to a Chanukah party once empty-handed and wished that you had brought a cake in the shape of a Jewish Star. If you have never felt that way, feel free to stop reading right now. But if you love a bit of kitsch and a lot of cake, then keep scrolling.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of these bundt pans this month. And while it looks like it would be tough to bake in (soooo many edges), the right amount of baking spray--and some magic with a pastry brush--will make it disaster-free.  

This apple cake is made in one bowl. This cake tastes like fall. This cake is moist and cinnamony and full of sugar. This cake can be baked in any shape that you desire so for those of you who don't have a Chanukah party to attend (I have many, if you would like to join), make it in a square, a cupcake, a layer cake, a parallelogram, and bring it to one of the many holiday-like events you will have this winter.

Sidenote: Some of you may be thinking, hey, Betsy uses a lot of Nordicware products for baking, why? The quality is great, the items are fun, they are nearly all made down the street from me, and I am also fortunate to have access to some of these fun items as a blogger. 

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Apple Cake
from King Arthur Flour

2 1/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp Apple Pie Spice or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + 1/4 teaspoon each ground ginger and ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups peeled, cored, chopped apple, about 1 1/3 pounds whole apples
 

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 9/10 cup bundt pan or 9" x 13" pan. Make sure to use a spray made for baking. And if making in a bundt, use a pastry brush to get the spray into every crevice.

Mix all of the ingredients except the apples and nuts in a large bowl. Beat until well combined; the mixture will be very stiff, and may even be crumbly.

Add the apples and mix until the apples release some of their juice and the stiff mixture becomes a thick batter, somewhere between cookie dough and brownie batter in consistency.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing it with your wet fingers.

Bake the cake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few wet crumbs clinging to it.

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