I can’t believe I’ve been making this cake since at least 2008. The printed page I have says first published in 2005. I’m usually diligent about saving a copy of a recipe that is on the web because I know it can just disappear for any number of reasons.
This recipe was originally on the Martha Stewart website. I have changed the recipe a couple of times over the years and I made mental notes.
This year when I went to make it for the hubster’s birthday – a standing order – I noticed something was amiss with the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. I believe it was missing ginger from the online recipe. I looked at it again and my eyes didn’t deceive me. No ginger.
Early in 2021 I obtained a binder of recipes I had been keeping for sometime. In that binder was the printed recipe for John Baricelli’s Carrot Cake along with the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting – with the ginger! Back in the early days of the internet portable devices were just a glimmer in our eyes. Since then the world has move on and potable is the way!
My paper copy is getting a bit stained and well used so I thought it was time to immortalize the recipe so that we can have a good clear unadulterated copy my version of the recipe.
I hope you enjoy the cake as much as we do! 🎂
JB's Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
The Cakes
- 1.5 Cups Vegetable Oil
- 3 Cups All Purpose Flour, plus more for the pans
- 1 Cup Pecan Halves
- 21 Good Looking Unblemished Pecan Halves
- 1 Pound Peeled and trimmed carrots
- 3 Large Eggs, Room Temperature
- 1/3 Cup Milk or Buttermilk If using milk use buttermilk powder as well
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 4 Tbsp Buttermilk Powder if using milk
- 2 Tbsp Freshly Grated Ginger
- 2 Tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 2 Tsp Cinnamon
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
- 3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter - Room Temperature
- 3 8 Ounce Bars of Full Fat Cream Cheese - Room Temperature
- 1 Tbsp Freshly Grated Orange Zest
- 2 Tbsp Freshly Grated Ginger
- 3 Cups Confectioner's Sugar, Sifted
Instructions
The Cakes
- Preheat Oven to 375° F
- Butter, line, and flour 2 - 8" cake pans being sure to tap out the excess flour
- Spread Pecans on a baking tray and bak in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes until golden.
- Cool Pecans and reserve the 21 best looking pecans for decorating later.
- Chop the remaining pecans and set aside.
- Reduce oven heat to 300°F
- Grate the ginger to make 2 full tablespoons, being sure to keep the juices as well. Set aside.
- Using the smallest holes of box grater or a food processor, grate the carrots. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Add eggs, milk/buttermilk, vanilla, sugar and ginger. Mix well using a whisk or hand held blender.
- In a medium bowl, sift the flour, buttermilk powder (if using), baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Add the dry ingredients to the carrot mixture and using a spatula, mix well.
- Fold in the chopped pecans.
- Divide evenly between the two pans and bake for about 1 hour. A cake tester should come out absolutely clean and the cakes should have shrunk slightly away from the edge of the pans.
- Cool in the pans for 15 minutes on a wire rack.
- Remove cakes from pans and remove the parchment if it has adhered to the cake.
- Cool for at least 2 hours.
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle.
- Cream on medium high speed until fluffy. 2 minutes.
- Add cream cheese and cream about 2 minutes more.
- Add sugar, zest, and ginger. Beat on low for 30-60 seconds (to avoid the white cloud). Then beat on high for 5 minutes.
Decorating the Cake
- Trim each cake to obtain a flat tap.
- Slice each cake layer in half.
- Take the bottom 1/2 of one of the cakes and place it on a cake pedestal.
- Add 3/4 cup of the frosting and smooth out into a nice layer.
- Take the top 1/2 of the first cake and invert it on the frosted layer.
- Add 3/4 cup of the frosting and spread out into an even layer.
- Take the bottom 1/2 of the first cake and put it on the two frosted layers - Cooked side down.
- Add 3/4 cup of the frosting and spread out into an even layer.
- Take the top 1/2 of the second cake and invert it on the frosted layer.
- At this point, since I generally make this cake on the summer, use skewers or straws to insert into the cake. This will hold the cake in place while it is chilling in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Remove the cake from the fridge and distribute the remaining frosting equally over the rest of the cake.
- Chill cake again for at least an hour.
- Decorate with 16 pecan halves around the edge and 5 pecan halves in the middle.
- Chill for at least 2 more hours and serve.
Bakers Notes:
- this recipe was originally written using melted and cooled butter. Try as I may I could never produce cakes that didn’t sink in the middle. Giving a less than desirable final cake. I researched well and replaced the butter with vegetable oil. The cakes always turn out perfectly.
- the original recipe called for 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. We like the more flavourful version with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.
- DO NOT use light cream cheese. The cakes will slide and the frosting will slide off the final cake. Tastes OK but looks terrible.
- The highly decorated version of the cakes uses candied carrot strips. The recipe can be found here.
