As I said in my Carrot Cake Scuffin post, I have not made many carrot cakes in my life. Which is a surprise, considering the amount of carrots I’ve consumed! (If you know, you know.) And, it’s a delicious cake! Moist, spiced, cream cheese frosting… reliable. You can add a lot of bells and whistles if you want, like coconut or nuts or raisins, or you can just keep it simple. I kept it simple with this Brown Butter Carrot Cake, because I’m not a huge fan of nuts or raisins in my cake.
This was, of course, an Easter bake. I always appreciate an excuse to bake a cake, and holidays are an obvious occasion. Perhaps I should just make up more excuses to make cake. Maybe I’d make more carrot cake then!
The brown butter is subtle in this, which is good. It doesn’t transform the cake or anything. Which is good, because otherwise I may just turn into a one-trick pony, with my one trick being brown butter. But it really is amazing how you can put brown butter in anything – I didn’t think brown butter carrot cake would work, but it did. It’s a pretty reliable one trick.
And of course, the cream cheese frosting is essential and the star of the show. It almost always is, when it’s put to good use! I associate cream cheese frosting with carrot cake and red velvet cake. In carrot cake, it’s an equal partner. In red velvet cake, it’s the only part worth eating.
Perhaps it should be paired with more things though! To give it some new chances to prove itself and shine.
Beyond this being Easter weekend, I also received a job offer on Friday! A big weekend, with lots of reason to celebrate. Perhaps I’ll bake another cake to celebrate my new job. And then I’ll likely have a cake on my birthday. And probably one for Mother’s Day too… maybe there’s actually a lot of reasons for cake coming up here!
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PinIngredients
- 9 ounces unsalted butter, melted and browned to just over 1/2 cup of butter
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp buttermilk
- 1 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp finely grated carrots
For the Frosting
- 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 – 4 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan and set aside.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Butter will begin to foam and crackle as it melts. When the crackling subsides, the butter will begin to brown. Swirl the pan as the butter cooks. When the butter browns and begins to smell nutty, remove the pan from the flame and transfer the butter to a small bowl. Taking the butter out of the hot saucepan will stop the butter from overcooking and burning. Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk. Stir in the grated carrots. When butter has cooled, whisk in the browned butter.
- Add the wet ingredients, all at once to the dry ingredients. Fold together, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to reveal any hidden pockets of flour. Fold together ingredients, but try not to over stir.
- Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for 15 minutes, before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, in a medium bowl stir together cream cheese and butter. Add sugar and salt. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of cream, adding more if necessary. The frosting should be thick and spreadable.
- Remove the loaf cake from the pan and spread the frosting over the cooled loaf cake. Sprinkle generously with chopped nuts. Slice generously and enjoy!
- Bread will last 4 days, well wrapped at room temperature.
Notes
Adapted from Joy the Baker