Carrot Birthday Cake

A few weeks ago, I was visited by my dear mother Kathy and friend Marlene. It was short, but sweet for it was my dear mum's birthday! Being her absolute favorite indulgence is carrot cake, I thought it would be most appropriate to bake her a fresh cake. The recipe I used was from Nigel Slater's, Tender, cookbook. Chef Dale at Sprout happened to show me this particular book and highly recommended it to me. Coincidentally, I thumbed through the pages and stumbled upon his version of a carrot cake. Immediately I ran up the treacherous stairs to the 'loft' at Sprout and made a copy of the recipe. For those of you who don't know, the stairs are steep, narrow and make anyone and everyone re-think how to walk down a set of stairs; it terrifies me every time.

Anyway, after work, I biked to Whole Foods, bought my ingredients and peddled to my apartment to start the task at hand. I read through the recipe before starting and realized the procedure was unlike those of most carrot cake recipes. The main difference was the separation of egg yolks and whites. The whites of the eggs were meant to be whipped and folded into the batter. I suppose the idea's intention was to give the cake a lighter and less denser product. Putting all feelings and knowledge aside, I decided to ACTUALLY follow this part of the recipe. Most of you know I have difficulties in doing this, and it still shocks me to think I followed it precisely. However, in the end I did not think there was a noticeable difference in the density. This was my reasoning for obeying the procedure. I wanted to do a little experiment and test what I know to be true. And ah ha, I was right. The other ingredients in the cake are simply too heavy to allow the egg whites support. What happens in this case, is that the whites deflate and provide no extra structure.

But I must admit, I did change a few other components to the recipe. I increased the amount of carrots (I mean, come on, only 5 ounces of carrots in a CARROT cake?!? Ridiculous I tell you. This is a carrot cake right?), I added raisins and lastly, I changed the spice to Chinese five spice powder versus cinnamon alone. I will most certainly use this recipe again with my adjustments and ignore the part about separating the eggs. Perhaps the cake would have been fluffier and less dense if I had not made these additions, but to me, it's not a carrot cake without the raisins or an appropriate amount of carrots. The five spice was just something I wanted to play with, and I knew it would be an interesting substitute for the cinnamon.

In case you'd like to try it for yourself, here's the recipe with my adjustments.

Cake:
3 eggs
265 g all purpose flour (about 2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
Pinch of salt
200 ml sunflower oil (just shy of one cup)
250 g sugar (scant 1 cup)
carrots 220 grams (7 1/2 ounces), grated
juice of half a lemon
150 g walnuts, toasted (1.25 cup)
2/3 cup raisins

Frosting:
250 g Mascarpone cheese (9 ounces)
200 g cream cheese (7 ounces)
150 g confectioners' sugar (1.5 cup)
grated zest of a medium orange
walnut halves, about 3/4 cup toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter two 9-inch cake pans then line each with a round of parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, five spice, and salt. Beat the oil and sugar in a stand mixer until well beaten, then adding the eggs one at a time. Grate the carrots into the mixture, then add the lemon juice. Coarsely chop the walnuts and add them too. Fold the flour into the mixture with the mixer on low speed.
Divide the mixture into the two pans, smooth the top gently and bake for forty to forty-five minutes. Test with a skewer for doneness. Remove from oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes before turning the cakes out of their pans onto a wire cooling rack.
To make the frosting, put the mascarpone, cream cheese, and confectioners' sugar into an electric mixer and beat until smooth and creamy. It should have no lumps. Mix in the orange zest.
When the cake cools, sandwich the halves together with a bout a third of the frosting. Use the rest to cover the top and sides of the cake. A rough finish looks more appropriate. cover the top with walnut halves.

and then Eat