Recipe: Carrot Cake with Pecan Cream Filling and Cream Cheese Icing

From Beat This!, the author, Ann Hodgman, states that this recipe comes from The Frog/Commissary Cookbook. She made one change from the original recipe. It called for raisins to be added to the cake batter and coconut to the icing. She felt that seemed excessive considering everything else that's going on with this cake, so she deleted them. She says feel free to reinsert them, though.

You will need to make the pecan filling the day before.

CARROT CAKE

FOR THE PECAN CREAM FILLING:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups chopped pecans, lightly toasted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
FOR THE CARROT CAKE:
1 1/4 cups corn oil
2 cups sugar, (preferably superfine)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
4 cups grated carrots (about 1 pound)
1 cup chopped pecans
FOR THE ICING:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1 box (1 pound) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt

TO MAKE PECAN CREAM FILLING:
A day before you make the cake, in heavy saucepan, blend sugar, flour and salt. Gradually add cream. Add butter. Cook and stir the mixture over low heat, until butter is melted. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Stir in the pecans and vanilla. Let cool completely. Refrigerate overnight. If it is too thick to spread, bring it to room temperature before using.

TO MAKE THE CARROT CAKE:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease and flour 10-inch tube pan.

In large bowl, whisk together corn oil and sugar.

In another bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift half dry ingredients into sugar-oil mixture and blend well. Alternately sift in rest of dry ingredients while adding eggs, one by one, and mixing well. Add carrots and pecansand mix again.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 70 minutes or until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool upright in pan on cooling rack. While the cake is baking, prepare the icing.

TO MAKE THE ICING:
Cream together the butter and cream cheese until well blended and fluffy. Sift in the confectioners' sugar. Cream again. Then beat in the vanilla and the salt. If the icing is too soft to spread, chill it for a few minutes. Refrigerate it if you don't plan to use it right away, but bring it back to room temperature before using.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKE:
Run a spatula around the inside of the tube pan to loosen the cake. Invert the cake onto a serving platter. With a long serrated knife, carefully split cake into three horizontal layers. Spread the pecan cream filling between the layers. (You may not need it all) Frost the top and sides of the cake with the icing.

Makes 12 servings.