by Amber Isles, RockCoast Confections | photos by Amanda Cribdon Photography –
When I was asked to provide a recipe for Easter, my first thought was more about what represented Easter and not so much what was traditional. Bunnies, carrots, delicious desserts … but mostly I came up with this recipe because I really wanted to make carrot cake and – come to think of it – I don’t think that I had ever made one before! Developing a recipe for it couldn’t be that hard, right?
There were several things I knew I wanted in my cake. Great taste with lots of depth. A good amount of carrots and spices for flavour, some citrus for zing and a cake that stays moist after cooking. Most important? We all know a carrot cake isn’t complete without its thick creamy icing! I also thought it would be fun to try and candy some carrots and put a little white chocolate decoration on top.
I have tried it out and am happy to report it was so delicious I ate more than I’m proud to admit. With that said I invite you to make your own Easter carrot cake and share your photos.
Have fun!
CANDIED CARROTS FOR GARNISH
Preheat oven to 225°F
2 carrots, use peeler to make
long thin strips
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
extra sugar to sprinkle
Dissolve water and sugar in a small saucepan on medium. Add carrot strips and cook for 15 minutes. Use a fork to drain each piece and lay in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 225° for 30 minutes. Take out and immediately wrap into curls and sprinkle with sugar. Leave out to cool and dry.
CAKE
Preheat oven to 350°F
4 eggs
1¼ cups oil, vegetable or coconut (melted)
1½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar (slightly less if using pralines as they are sweetened)
1½ tsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
3 cups grated carrots
2 cups gluten free or regular flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
1½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cups pralines or 1 cup chopped nuts of choice
Whisk eggs and oil until frothy. Whisk in sugar and vanilla, then lemon zest and grated carrots. Blend all dry ingredients together and incorporate into wet ingredients, careful not to overmix.
Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment and grease with butter (can also use a 9″ x 13″ baking pan).
Bake at 350° for 50 minutes, test with cake tester. (Lower baking time approx. 10 min if using a 9″ x 13″ pan)
Let cool and then remove from pan.
ICING
1 brick (8oz) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
½ cup butter, softened
½ tsp orange extract
⅓ cup white chocolate, melted & slightly cooled
2½ cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Cream the cream cheese and butter well. Mix in melted white chocolate, orange extract and vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar, a bit at a time. Mix until smooth and place in a piping bag (no tip required). Set aside in fridge for 15 minutes.
CHOCOLATE DECORATION
2 cups white chocolate (in chips or finely chopped)
Prepare a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and have at hand a fork, an Easter candy mold or cookie cutter and a small room temperature bowl.
To temper the chocolate you have two options:
Option 1: Bain-Marie (glass or stainless bowl over a pot of water).
Place a small amount of water in a saucepan and place a bowl over top. Make sure the bottom of the bowl is not resting in the water. Heat on low to medium, being sure no steam is escaping out the sides of the bowl. Chocolate does not like water! Stir often and remove bowl from heat when 2/3 of the chocolate is melted. Wipe the bottom of the bowl dry and transfer the chocolate into a room temperature bowl. Keep mixing with a spatula until all chocolate has melted and use immediately.
Option 2: Microwave. Place chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and heat in 15-second increments, stirring each time before you repeat, heating until 2/3 of the chocolate has melted. Transfer into a room temperature bowl and keep stirring with a spatula to melt out all the chocolate pieces.
Use your fork to drizzle chocolate designs onto the parchment. Pour the remaining into your Easter candy molds or into the cookie cutter flat on the parchment paper. Once the chocolate no longer looks wet place in the fridge for 10 minutes before removing from your molds or cookie cutter.
ASSEMBLY
Place cake on platter and remove icing from fridge. Make sure the icing isn’t too cold so it pipes easily. Cut the tip off the piping bag so that there is about a ⅜” opening. Start at the top and make a back-and-forth motion as you pipe. Sprinkle with praline or finely chopped nuts and decorate with candied carrot and white chocolate. ENJOY!
Send a picture of your RockCoast Carrot Cake to news@seasidemagazine.ca OR tag us @seasidemagazine on Facebook or Instagram. At the end of April, we’ll draw a name from the entrants for a foodie prize!
