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Ingredients:
 Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Citrus Cream and Candied Carrot Curls
I thought of a lot of tasty treats I could do with carrots, but I just couldn't get myself out of thinking carrot cake, in some shape or another. So, with limited time, I decided to do a little elevated, individual carrot cakes, with a slightly cinnamon and orangey mascarpone cream, with candied carrot curls and pecan.
For the carrot cake, you'll need:
3 cups fresh grated carrots (4 large or 6 medium)
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1.5 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1.25 cups canola oil
3/4 cup toasted chopped pecans
Now grate up your carrots and get your mise en place (get your stuff out and measured). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
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Step 1:
 Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt together into a large bowl. I hate traditional sifters and just use a large-ish, fine-mesh strainer.
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Step 2:
 Beat your eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla together in a large bowl.
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Step 3:
 Stir the carrots into the egg mixture, then with a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture until almost combined. Stir in the nuts.
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Step 4:
 Pour into prepared pans (I used well greased large muffin tins; they gave a really nice shape). Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes for the size I used until medium brown and done all the way through. The batter makes extra: I just made 8 additional small cupcakes and baked them for 12 minutes. If you have another large muffin tin (I didn't) you could probably make about 4-5 more cakes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool down all the way, at least 1 hour.
Now, while those are baking, let's make our topping.
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Step 5:
 For the candied curls, use a vegetable peeler and peel off some different sized carrot peels.
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Step 6:
 In a small saucepan, mix 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer. Dump in your carrot peels and simmer until they darken and become translucent, about 15 minutes.
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Step 7:
 Remove and place on parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet. Make little decorative shapes, and set them aside. They should harden up a little; if not, place them in a low oven (about 200 degrees) and let them dry out for 15 minutes or so. If they stick to the paper, put them in the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off. I also used the rest of the sugar mixture in the bottom of the pan and covered some extra pecan halves with the caramel (see the bottom and upper left corners).
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Step 8:
 Now make the icing to top the carrot cake. You'll need mascarpone cheese, heavy cream, vanilla extract, an orange, cinnamon, and sugar.
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Step 9:
 Mix about 1/4 cup of mascarpone with equal parts of heavy whipping cream, about 1 tsp orange zest, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 2-3 TB fresh orange juice, a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar, and whip to combine. I just tasted and adjusted. I also added a little fresh lemon juice for acidity.
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Step 10:
 Thin back out with heavy cream until a thick, pourable consistency.
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Step 11:
 Pour over your little carrot cakes, garnish with the candied carrot and a candied pecan, and serve.
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