Ultimate Carrot Cake #TheCakeSliceBakers

It’s about time I’ve made a carrot cake. Up until now, carrot cake was something that someone else put on the table. Like some sort of proprietary cake outside of my reach, I wasn’t too interested in baking my own. I mean, “Why carrots?”

This is what brings me to the recipe for “Ultimate Carrot Cake,” from Zoë François in Zoë Bakes Cakes. Finally, it’s my time to calmly confront a cake I’ve been ignoring for some time.

I’ve sized down the original to make a double-layer six-inch cake. I halved the cake recipe ingredients, and made one-fourth of the frosting. A six-inch cake is less intimidating to prepare and to bake than an 8-inch cake. Also, it’s less cake to eat.

The batter is stirred by hand, so no mixer is necessary. Once the batter is mixed, weigh two portions to make sure they are equal. This is how to have no doubts about the size and shape of the two different layers of cake. Pour each half into its own pan.

For my dried fruits, I reached into my pantry to find dried mangoes, cranberries, raisins, and dates. Chop little bits of dried fruit until you have ½ cup.

As I bake, the spiced scent reminds me of pumpkin pie.

Make sure to let your two cakes cool completely in their pans. They will slip easily out of their pans, thanks to all of the greased parchment you’ve put in there.

Frosting the cake is fun, because I get to pat shredded coconut on the sides with my hands, covering any imperfections in the frosting.

The cake is barely a “cake.” What I mean is this is not a fluffy, airy cake. Instead, it’s more like a big, moist muffin, where there are more grated carrots than there is flour.

You’ll taste the bits of fruit and the carrots and the sugar and the spices. Coconut is a big part of this show. A unique cake, to be sure.

Cream Cheese Frosting is a guaranteed winner. Its buttery creaminess tops the cake perfectly, adding structure and sweetness.

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Zoë Bakes Cakes by Zoē François. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

It is a new year and a new book - Zoë Bakes Cakes - and our choices for September 2022 were ~