This carrot, ginger & spice cake is a come back cake. I thought I'd lost my love for baking cakes as I channelled my baking into bread. But one morning I woke up and knew that I had to bake a cake.
With layers of richly spiced carrot cake with sultanas and crystallised ginger, a layer of Biscoff spread, a coating of cream cheese and nutty browned butter frosting and an adornment of carrot fronds, gerbera petals and carrot tops, I called this cake Holiday.
The frosting: this cream cheese, browned butter frosting is amazing and one of my favourite ever frostings. My favourite kitchen ingredient is probably butter, followed by brown butter. You may have eaten ravioli in brown butter with some sage leaves but it's also divine in baking and so easy to make. I always have browned butter in my fridge and add it to my baked goods where it imparts an incredible nutty, delicious aroma and flavour. See this recipe here on how to brown butter.
How to get perfectly even cake layers: First of all it helps to start with cake layers of the same weight. I use a scale to ensure that the cake layers start off with the same weight of batter in each tin. Once they're baked there might be a little variation based on where the cake is positioned and the random-less of life. That when a cake leveller comes in handy. Mine isn't a pro one, it was an inexpensive one I bought overseas in a kitchenware store but the metal string cuts through cakes with surprising ease. It also trims the top off the cakes. This cake didn't have much of a dome so I just trimmed it with a serrated knife.
Surprise tip for layer cake bakers, the fridge or freezer is your best friend When it comes to icing or frosting cakes. Frosting is easiest to use when it's spreadable but you need it to set firm otherwise your cakes will slip off each other. Most icing sets firm in the fridge and definitely in the freezer so pop the cake in there between layers so that everything freezes up firmly. A semi frozen cake also ices a lot easier.
Do not bake your cake and ice it on the same day. On the bake day, your cake will be too delicate and your icing will melt. Even when you think it's cold there is still a residual pocket of heat right in the middle of the damn cake!
Two layer step for frosting cakes To ice cakes, you will do a rough "crumb coat" of icing. This is a thin coat just to catch all the crumbs. You should be able to see the cake through the frosting. Then freeze or refrigerate and then apply a thicker coat before using a cake smoother. You may have to reapply the coat a few times alternating with smoothing and coating where any gaps exist.
Check your spice freshness: I go through some spices really quickly (cinnamon, nutmeg) while others hardly at all (oregano). Try and look for Ceylon Cinnamon from Sri Lanka which is more delicate and sweeter smelling and is considered "true cinnamon". Cassia Cinnamon or Chinese Cinnamon is a lower quality cinnamon and is commonly found and chances are unless it says Ceylon cinnamon, it's probably Cassia or Chinese Cinnamon.
I had the cake ingredients in my fridge for a few days. You see I had done another food swap with Laura. I traded her some prawn rolls, tomato pasta sauce, Anzac biscuits and gingerbread for a bunch of gerberas, Dutch carrots and cucumber melons. On the weekends she goes to gather her shopping from the local markets and she face times me from the market to see if I would like anything.
"I need Dutch carrots but the fronds must be erect!" I said.
"Got it, no FLACCID FRONDS!" she said. She's incredibly efficient at these things as she works in PR and is probably used to crazy clients with similar requests.
She panned around the store to show me the display of Dutch carrots. "Fronds are erect!" she confirmed. I had everything that I needed for this cake plus cake baking mojo!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you lost the mojo for anything during this time?
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