Recipe: Carrot Cake with Lemon Glaze

CARROT CAKE

21/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
4 eggs
3/4 cups dark brown sugar
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
11/2 cups neutral salad oil, such as Crisco
1 lb. carrots, peeled and grated by hand or in a food processor
1 cup raisins (can be half dark and half golden)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Lemon Glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two, 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray. Line them with parchment paper and coat paper with nonstick spray.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs, both sugars and vanilla using the whisk attachment. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Lower the speed and slowly add the oil, beating continuously. The egg mixture will become thicker as the oil is added. Continue to beat for another 5 minutes.

On the lowest speed, add the flour mixture in fourths. Mix well, then by hand, fold in the carrots, raisins and walnuts. Place in the prepared pans.

Bake 15 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake for 5 more minutes, or until cakes have risen and are golden-brown, firm to the touch, and a cake tester comes out clean from the center.

Cool the cakes on a wire rack. Turn them out onto a plate or cake circle; coat the center of one cake with lemon glaze. Top with the second cake layer, and allow the remaining glaze to coat the top and run down the sides.

LEMON GLAZE

4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (or more or less to taste)

Mix the juice with the sugar and stir well to combine smoothly. If the glaze seems too runny, add a bit more sugar. The quantities in this glaze can be adjusted for taste and texture.

Serves 8
Source: The Art of the Dessert by Ann Amernick