Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Citrus Cream

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.

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.

Step 2:

Beat your eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla together in a large bowl.

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.

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.

Step 5:

For the candied curls, use a vegetable peeler and peel off some different sized carrot peels.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Step 10:

Thin back out with heavy cream until a thick, pourable consistency.

Step 11:

Pour over your little carrot cakes, garnish with the candied carrot and a candied pecan, and serve.