This recipe is from The Newlywed Kitchen -- Delicious Meals for Couples Cooking Together by Lorna Yee and Ali Basye, page 206. Once again they're limiting their market by not only the book title but now also the recipe title! Why dad is involved I have no idea. Well, actually I do - it says it at the front of the recipe that the recipe was created for the author's dad, but still, it seems rather odd now announcing "Dad's Favorite Cake" when it's not my dad. I shall refer to it from now on as the Awesome Whiskey Carrot Cake.
This cake is amazing. I actually cooked something with whisky a while ago and had some leftover, so went looking for other recipes that also use whisky. That's when I stumbled on a couple of blog posts that described preparing this recipe. The blogs didn't have how to make the recipe though, so I had to order this book at my local library. It's finally arrived and I get to use the brand new book for free (Did you know you can order books at your local library? Brilliant!)
This is not an easy cake. It's two layers, has a filling between the layers and rather ostentatious frosting. I think there is two much frosting, so you could probably make less. There is probably about a million calories per slice, so don't you be thinking about your waistline when you're eating it. It's just as well it's Easter and I've let myself go :) (I ate a block of chocolate in one sitting on Friday!)
Another annoying thing in this recipe is some weird measurements. I guess it's the American way, but I have no idea what a stick of butter or a cup of butter is (unless it's a cup of melted butter!). Luckily, Google came to the rescue with a butter converter! So I've added grams below.
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease two 9-inch (23 cm) round baking pans and line the bottoms with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. This is just your dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar together for about four minutes. I found it helpful to cut the butter up into smaller chunks and microwave it for 20 seconds (I have a 1200 Watt microwave), otherwise all the bits of sugar and butter will just fly everywhere.
Add the eggs and oil and beat until just combined. With a wooden spoon, stir in the carrots, walnuts, pineapple, and coconut, and thoroughly mix together. Add the dry ingredients mixed earlier and stir until well combined.
Divide the batter into the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. It's a really heavy cake, so it won't rise much more. Bake both of them for about 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick or a bamboo skewer -- it should come out clean. Both of my pans fitted into the oven on the same level, but it might be different if they have to go on separate levels. You don't have to do anything while the layers are baking, so just clean up the dishes or whatnot.
Cool the baked layers on a rack. I don't have a cooling cake rack, so I just turned a drying dishes rack upside down and put some baking paper on it. It took about an hour or two for the layers to cool.
While the cakes were cooling, we made the praline and the cream cheese frosting.
The praline is quite fiddly and you have to make sure all the ingredients are measured out and are sitting within the hand's reach before you start. It took three of us to make it, mostly because the cake was getting baked at the same time and it rang the timer at the same time as critical steps of praline making were taking place. It was a bit chaotic! I'd say just take a breather while the cakes are baking, and make the praline while they're cooling.
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and put them on a high heat. It'll soon boil and not do much else for a little while. Just keep watching it. Soon you will notice light brown colour appearing. When that starts happening, start dragging the edges with a wooden spoon into the middle, kind of like making scrambled eggs. You want to keep it moving so it doesn't burn in some places more than others, but you do want it to go deep amber colour. Keep watch because once it goes brown, it starts darkening really quickly. As soon as it's gone dark, take the pot off the heat and drop in the cold cream. It'll bubble and boil, keep stirring. Add the butter and stir some more until it's all melted. Put the pan back on the stove, lower the heat, and cook it until it's reduced and thickened, about two minutes. Add the walnuts, salt, and whiskey, and set the pot aside to cool.
For the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese (once again, nuke the butter a little bit first) until smooth. Add the icing sugar, orange liqueur, and orange zest. Beat for about six minutes. The orange liqueurs are Grand Marnier or Cointreau. The bottle stores often sell sample sizes of expensive stuff, which is perfect for baking. I bought a small Cointreau bottle for seven dollars. Same with Whiskey actually, but my friend gave it to me :)
To assemble the cake, place one layer on your plate or cake stand, put the praline on top, cover with the second layer, and then frost the entire cake, sides and all. You can then press the walnuts to the sides for garnish. I added almost an inch of frosting and still had some leftover, so I think you can reduce the amounts there.
Also, we went a bit overboard with the alcohol in this cake. I suggest following the recipe as I think adding too much means both the praline and the frosting stayed too soft. I will probably be making this cake again soon and will try to contain myself with the alcohol addition :)
Once again, I have no photos because my phone is still getting repaired, but this photography blog has some.
Ingredients:
Cake:
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened = 225 g
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 vegetable oil
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
One 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained well = 230 g
1/2 cup flaked coconut
walnuts for garnish
Whiskey praline cream filling:
1/4 thickened cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon whiskey
Orange cream cheese frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter = 225 g
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese = 450 g, but I think less is better
2.5 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon orange liqueur
zest of a medium orange
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