Uncommon Carrot Cake 🍰

A friend shares a delicious recipe 🤤

Good evening all,

The jet lag has taken a greater toll than I thought after returning from a few weeks in SE Asia

BowTiedOctopod | Culinary Chad @BowTiedOctopod

Gm Officially BACK from the last few weeks in Thailand 🇹🇭 🙌 Amazing food Lots of stories Wonderful people Delicious recipes All in store; stay tuned on Twitter (for snippets) and Substack (for longer deets)

Expect a lot of Thailand content mixed in with regular programming/ Everything from travel tips, restaurant recs, recipes and stories from the Thai people themselves.

Cannot wait to go back 🙏

ICYMI I was a guest recently on BowtiedCommoners podcast, “Common Sense”. We had a blast talking all things cooking, resturants, modern agriculture, japanese steel and more. 🙌 Listen on Spotify or with cool animations on YouTube

BowTiedCommoner | Podcast Host and Youtuber @BowTiedCommoner

Listen here on Spotify! open.spotify.com/episode/5vDlyb…

After the episode we ended up chatting more about cooking and I found out Commoner loves to bake. When asked her favorite item to bake, without hesitation, “Brown Butter Carrot Cake” was her answer.

This immediately caught my attention because browned butter is one of my favorite kitchen secret weapons. One of the best carrot cakes I ever had was made with brown butter, and we both love cream cheese frosting 😂 so I immediately asked her to do a guest post for all the sweet tooth lovers here.

Without further adieu… BowtiedCommoner in the house 🙌

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Hello everyone!

Today, I will be diverging from my normal programming (drawing cartoons and ridiculing leftists) to share with you all my world-famous Brown Butter Carrot Cake! This ancient, secret family recipe I found on the internet is my go-to dessert whenever I feel like showing off.

Far more importantly, however, is how well it transports copious amounts of cream cheese frosting.

So, let us begin.

Disclaimer #1:

I believe that baking should be a “choose your own adventure.” Yes, you could weigh your flour. Yes, you could sift your powdered sugar.

You could be extremely precise in all aspects of the preparation- or, you could rely on the fact that something composed mainly of butter and sugar is extremely difficult to screw up. It’s up to you.

Now, let us begin. Here’s what you’re going to need:

Ingredients

For the cake:

· 10 tablespoons (142 grams) unsalted butter

· 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

· 2 teaspoons baking soda

· ½ teaspoon fine salt

· 1 teaspoon cinnamon

· ½ teaspoon nutmeg

· ½ teaspoon ginger

· 2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

· 3 large eggs (at room temperature)

· 1 cup unsweetened applesauce

· 1 teaspoon vanilla

· 3 cups finely shredded carrots (about 6 medium carrots) The recipe originally called for 4 but I needed 6, so I always suggest buying more.

· ¾ cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

For the cream cheese frosting:

· 24 oz cream cheese, softened

· 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

· 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

· 1 teaspoon cinnamon

· ¼ teaspoon salt

· 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted (if you really want to)

Disclaimer #2:

I halved this recipe while making it for this article because I cannot be held responsible for my actions when a bucket of cream cheese frosting is in the refrigerator. And, it’s #cuttingseason.

Disclaimer #3:

I am a strong believer in “Quality Control.” It is a necessary step to ensure your final product is of the standard you expect- as such, I will indicate when it is appropriate to engage in “Quality Control” throughout the process.

Let’s make a carrot cake!

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease (intensely) two 8-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper.

2. (Here’s the brown butter part) In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Every so often, “swirl” the pan as the butter continues to cook. It should be sounding like “snap, crackle, pop” right now. Once it stops popping and crackling, continue to swirl the pan until brown bits form at the bottom of the pan. It should be smelling FANTASTIC. 2-3 minutes after the popping stops, remove from heat, pour into mixing bowl and let cool completely.

3. Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

4. To the browned butter, stir in the brown sugar, then eggs. Add in the applesauce, vanilla, and carrots. Stir in dry ingredients, mix until just combined. Stir in nuts. (Opportunity for Quality Control #1)

5. Divide batter into your cake pans. Bake until a knife inserted comes out clean, about 30 minutes (let cool completely before frosting).

Even better, let’s make some cream cheese frosting!

1. Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla cinnamon, and salt on medium-high speed until very creamy and light (scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed). On low speed gradually add in sugar and beat until creamy. (Opportunity for Quality Control #2,3,4,5)

Let’s assemble a carrot cake!

1. Place a layer on a platter.

2. Smother it with cream cheese frosting.

3. Place the second layer on top.

4. Smother with cream cheese frosting.

5. Daintily add chopped pecans or walnuts to the top!

(If you really wanted to show off, you could cut each layer in half first, then have a 4 layer carrot cake. I’ve considered it myself).

Now, you’ve got a beautiful, elegant dessert to take to Easter! Well done, Anon. You can see my two final products here: (one little one for #cuttingseason, and a Big Kahuna I made last year).

If you enjoyed this, make sure to listen to Octopod and I’s podcast episode! You can listen here: Commoner Interviews Octo!

Thanks,

Commoner 😊

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Special thanks to Commoner for sharing this recipe with us. 👏

Make sure you checkout her YouTube channel, making some of the funniest and smart videos on the interwebs. In a world where laughter is becoming less common, Commoner cracks me up on the weekly.

Until next time! 🥂