Classic Carrot Cake with Tahini Cream Cheese Frosting {Bakeolution}
Good Friday to you all! This is perhaps the first day in the history of working adulthood that Courtney has a day off that I don’t. Ah, now I know the sting of getting ready for work while your S.O. sits on the couch in their underwear.
Life’s not fair. For instance, you didn’t have a piece of this carrot cake and I did. Gosh I love carrot cake. It might just be my favorite cake of all time (save that in your back pocket for Johanna trivia, which I sometimes do deploy unfairly, and you want to be ready when I do. Although you might be unlucky and get the question on the day that I’m feeling more inclined toward ice cream cake). I don’t know if it’s fair to say that carrot cake is my favorite cake when the cream cheese frosting plays such a large part in the equation, but I really do love the texture of carrot cake and the fact that everywhere that makes it seems try just a little harder to compensate for the use of vegetables.
With this particular version, I’m thought the frosting was the star of the show. The cake was a classic carrot cake. It was nice, because it wasn’t too sweet. It had a good texture, perhaps more cakey and less dense than some carrot cakes I’ve had. I personally was surprised to see white sugar in carrot cake. I think it could have benefited from maple syrup – or at the very least brown sugar – to give more complexity to the sweetness. But because I was making this for Bakeolution and wanted it to come out in one piece, I decided not tweak with the recipe this time. Except for making it into two layers rather than four, because really – what is the purpose of a four tiered cake if it serves the same number of people? I am not a showy baker.
The frosting is what dreams (and tight pants) are made of. Think of your classic cream cheese frosting, but with a mild yet noticeable taste of tahini. It was also much fluffier than cream cheese frosting I’ve made in the past. If you already have a favorite carrot cake recipe but want to change things up just a bit, I highly recommend trying it with this frosting. I also think it would be awesome on all sorts of cakes. I would definitely put it on this beet red velvet!
Classic Carrot Cake with Tahini Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Butter & Brioche
Ingredients
For the carrot cake:
- 3 cups / 15.4 oz. / 435 g all purpose flour
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 3 tsp. baking soda
- 3 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 6 large eggs
- 2 ¼ cups / 16 oz. / 450 g sugar
- 2 ¼ cups / 18.3 fl. oz. / 540 ml vegetable oil
- 4 ½ cups / 20. 3 oz. / 575 g shredded carrots
- 1 ½ cups / 6.2 oz. / 175 g finely chopped pecans
For the cream cheese tahini frosting:
- 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup tahini
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups / 8.5 oz. / 240 g powered sugar, sifted
Instructions
- To make the cake: Pre-heat an oven to 350 F. Grease and line two 9″ cake pans.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt together into a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs set on high speed until foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue mixing until thick, about 3 minutes. Drizzle in the vegetable oil slowly, this should take at least 3 to 5 minutes (the idea is for the mixture to slowly absorb the oil to make an emulsion, if the oil separates from the mixture it is being added too quickly).
- Reduce the mixer speed to low. In third additions, mix in the flour mixture until smooth and combined.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the carrots and pecans.
- Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans. Bake until the cakes are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack to let cool completely.
- While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting: Put the cream cheese, butter, tahini and salt into a standing mixer and whip on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add the lemon juice and vanilla and combine well. Lower the mixer speed and slowly add in the icing sugar, stopping to scrape down the bowl occasionally. Once all the sugar has been added, increase the mixer speed back to medium and whip for 2 minutes, or until very fluffy.
- Trim the cooled cake tops to level. Place one cake layer on a stand or plate. Spread the layer with a thin layer of frosting. Top with the second layer of cake. Use a spatula to top the frost and sides with frosting. Decorate with pecans.
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[…] and Eastern Europe, sesame is commonly used in desserts (oh, and in the messy kitchen: exhibit 1, carrot cake with tahini cream cheese frosting; exhibit 2, tahini date cookies; exhibit 3, tahini date milkshake; exhibit 4, tahini thumbprint […]