Three-Layer Carrot Cake

I found this recipe in the cookbook my Aunt Sherry gave John and me as a wedding present-- The Complete Guide to Country Cooking published by Taste of Home.  Please don't worry if you're not a Country Cook.  If you're a City Cook, a Bush Cook, a Suburban Culdesac Cook, or any other type of Cook, I can guarantee you'll love this cake if you like carrot cake.  

Studded with raisins and pecans, rich as can be but not overly sweet, and extremely moist, this is the best carrot cake in my repertoire.  My Dad, cake aficionado that he was, approved (though not as hearty an approval as that for THIS cake), and Annika counts it as her favorite cake.

When I made it last Easter, I added a bit more grated carrot to the batter, as well as candied carrot curls and pieces as garnish.  Also, I skipped the recipe's filling and just made extra cream cheese frosting to spread between the layers.  The first time I made this cake, I followed the recipe exactly, and it was very good; I just use any excuse I can to get more cream cheese frosting in my belly. :)

Three-Layer Carrot Cake
 

FILLING: *If desired, omit filling, and make extra cream cheese frosting to use in its place.

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
  CAKE:
• 1-1/4 cups canola oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups finely shredded carrots (or a bit more; the more finely you shred them, the more they'll incorporate into the cake and the moister the cake will be, so use the finest shredder you have for this)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped pecans
  
  FROSTING: *Make extra if using in place of the filling.
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• One block (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
  
  If you want, add candied carrot curls as garnish, recipe to follow.

  Directions

• In a large heavy saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Stir in cream; add butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until the butter is melted; bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Cool and set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat oil and sugar until well blended. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with eggs, beating well after each addition. Stir in the carrots, raisins and nuts.
• Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
• For frosting, in a small bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar until smooth. Spread filling between cake layers. Frost the sides and top of cake. Store in the refrigerator. 
  
  Yield: 16-20 servings.

It's even better a day or two later after having been chilled.  Soooooo good.

Lemon Curd, I Love You

I can't believe I'd never eaten such a delicious thing as lemon curd before.  It is SO GOOD.  Any lovers of lemon will find it hard not to eat plain.  Rich, buttery, bursting with mouth-puckering, sour-sweet flavor, this is something I will certainly add to my holiday fare. Lemon curd can be layered between pudding or whipped cream as a dessert, used as a filling for layer cakes, or, traditionally, spread on toast in lieu of jam, though I've not tried that.

**   Those of you who are here to make the filling for the angel food cake should triple the amounts below.  This will use up all those egg yolks perfectly.  If you have any curd leftover, I found that a spoonful or two stirred into plain homemade yogurt turns it into a knockout dessert, as shown below. Plus, you know, there's always just that empty spoon waiting to be filled. **

Without further ado, a recipe for lemon curd, which I adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

Lemon Curd

yield: about 2 cups

Grated zest of 3 large lemons

about 6-7 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice

1/4 lb. (1 stick) butter

1 cup sugar

4 egg yolks 

In a small bowl, stir the yolks until thoroughly blended, then heat the butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves.  To the butter/sugar mixture, add the lemon juice and lemon zest.  Stirring constantly, pour the egg mixture into the lemon mixture, and still stirring constantly, continue to cook until the curd is thick.  This may take up to 15 minutes.  Don't increase the heat, as the butter and zest can scorch.  Remove from the heat (curd will thicken more as it cools), cover with plastic wrap against the surface to prevent a "skin" from forming, let cool, and store in the refrigerator.  Curd will keep up to 2 weeks, if you can bear to let it last that long.

* If you're worried about scorching, just use a makeshift double boiler.  Fill a large pan with one inch of water and rest a bowl on top of that, not touching the water, but just above it.  This way the water will heat the curd gently without fear of scorching it with direct heat.  I'm usually too anxious to finish to use this method, though.

Cream Puffs

...because buildabelly needs them.  Because YOU need them.

 I haven't made cream puffs since I was fourteen years old.  After each break, when my parents drove my older sister back to college, I'd make something elaborate from the cookbook to sustain my older and younger siblings and myself while they were gone.  The offerings were predictable: divinity (always a sickly-sweet winner), molasses taffy, cookies and cakes of all kinds, and...cream puffs.  The funny thing is that I only made the puffs and not the cream.  We were so hungry by the time the puffs emerged golden-brown from the oven that we just filled the shells with Christmas m&ms from the basement freezer.

These genuine cream puffs, folks, are even better.


You can thank Millie for them.  I'm not fasting from meals for Lent, but the girls and I have omitted desserts and sweeteners during the week, waiting until Sundays (which aren't part of the 40 days) to add honey to our tea.  Millie's been making one fancy dessert each Sunday, too, and this one hit the spot.  I helped her in parts, but she's the one to thank for the bulk of it.

For the cream puffs, we slightly adapted the classic Fannie Farmer recipe, which follows.

Cream Puffs
(makes 28-30)

1 cup water
8 tbsp. butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla*

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine the water and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon.  Return to moderate heat and stir constantly until the dough leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating hard until the dough is smooth.  Place large, rounded tablespoons of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.  Bake for 30 minutes or until puffs are golden brown.  Prick the tops with a toothpick or skewer to let steam escape for a few minutes and, after cooling them for a bit on a rack, cut them in half.

Note: She added the vanilla to the dough, and we baked them on parchment paper-lined baking sheets instead of bare sheets.

Cream Filling (Crème Pâtissière)
Makes enough for 28-30 cream puffs.

Millie used Fannie Farmer's Basic Cream Filling recipe, and then she folded sweetened, fresh whipped cream into the chilled filling to make a lighter, fluffier filling.

2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
4 tsp. vanilla

Heat the milk in a heavy-bottomed pan until very hot but not boiling.  Mix the sugar, flour, and salt together in a bowl, stir in the hot milk, and beat until well blended.  Pour back into the pan and continue to stir vigorously over low heat for 4-5 minutes, until very thick and smooth.  Add the egg yolks and cook for a few more minutes.  Cool, stirring from time to time, then add the vanilla.

Cool completely in the refrigerator (or, if you're strapped for time like Millie was, in the freezer) before folding in freshly whipped cream.  Whip 3/4 pint of heavy cream (reserving the remaining 1/4 pint) until soft peaks form and gradually add sugar, to taste, until stiff peaks form.  Fold the whipped cream into the chilled crème pâtissière, and then place a hearty dollop of the filling onto each cooled cream puff before replacing the tops.

Chocolate Ganache Topping

Take the remaining 1/4 pint of heavy cream and heat it together with a cup or so of semisweet chocolate chips.  (We use the microwave for this.  Just heat it for 30 seconds and then in increments of 10 seconds to avoid scorching it.)  Stir together until melted and smooth.  Allow it to cool and thicken a bit until it's the right consistency for topping your cream puffs.  Melt in a few more chocolate chips if it seems too thin. Allow topping to cool and then dig in.

Note: They are best eaten fresh, as they tend to become soggy when stored in the refrigerator.

These are unbelievable, but don't give yourself a bellyache. 
(And if you do, don't say I didn't warn you.)

A Cheater's Salted Caramel Sauce

I cheated, and I am not ashamed.  I made two batches of this easy caramel-- two, because I thought I'd ruined the first batch.  It turned out that we all preferred the ruined one on the left, though, to the pristine one on the right, so I'll tell you what to do for both.

Use this to top cheesecake, ice cream, desserts, or your tongue.

 

Cheater's Caramel Sauce

-1/2 cup butter

-1/2 cup brown sugar

- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk

- coarse sea salt, to taste

Melt butter and sugar together in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves into the butter.  Add the sweetened condensed milk and raise the temperature gradually until it starts to simmer, stirring constantly.  Cook and stir the mixture for about 20 minutes until the color changes to a rich golden brown.  Add salt, to taste, and stir.  (This means that you'll have to actually taste the stuff, probably more than once, and, if you're me, several more times to be safe.)

*Important note: To make the caramel on the left, with delicious, crunchy bits of toffee goodness in it, stir the butter/sugar mixture over medium heat until the color begins to deepen slightly, and then add the condensed milk. Stir in condensed milk and continue stirring over medium-low heat until the butter/sugar mixture turns to crunchy toffee but before it turns to bitter black bits.  (How's that for technical advice?)

Peanut Butter Filling

1/4 cup butter, softened
@ 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup evaporated milk (I used this because I had some sitting in my fridge. Feel free to substitute an alternative dairy liquid, as long as it's creamy.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar
@ one additional tablespoon evaporated milk

Cream butter and peanut butter together, then mix in the milk and vanilla. Beat in the confectioners' sugar, beating until creamy, and add additional milk as needed for the proper spreading consistency.

Peppermint/Orange/Etc. Filling

We used peppermint and orange extracts, but any other flavoring could be used, as well.

4 tablespoon butter, softened
@ 1/4 cup evaporated milk (again, substitute milk, cream, half-and-half, etc.)
1 tsp. peppermint flavoring or other flavoring, to taste (And please do! Taste, that is...)
@ 2 and 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Mix all together until smooth and creamy. Add additional milk or sugar, if needed, for proper spreading consistency.

Brown Butter Frosting

This is so good-- rich and creamy with a toffee twist. I made one and a half times this recipe for the spice cake.

In a small skillet, over medium heat, cook 1/2 cup butter until melted and lightly browned; let cool. In a large bowl, with mixer at medium-low speed, beat butter, 16 oz. confectioner's sugar, 3 tbsp. cream (or light cream, half and half, or milk), and 1 and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract until smooth and blended. Beat in additional milk as needed to reach proper spreading consistancy. Beat on medium high for about one minute, until frosting is light and fluffy. Makes about 2 and 1/3 cups.

Fluffy Flour Frosting

This is one of my favorite frostings, and its name is a bit misleading as it only has 4 tbsp. of flour in it. It’s fluffy like whipped cream with a delicate sweetness that’s not overpowering—perfect for almost any cake. Plus, this is more stable than whipped cream and can sit out without becoming runny or needing refrigeration. (Just watch out for super-hot days! Like any frosting, this, too, will melt if faced with a sweltering temperature.)

1. Mix one cup cold milk and 4 tablespoons flour until well-combined. Cook over med.-low heat until thick, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. (Cook the mixture to the point at which it's a very thick paste. You should be able to tell when it's reached the point of maximum thickness, because it won't continue to noticeably thicken as you cook and stir. Upon cooling, it will thicken a bit more.) Refrigerate to cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, beat together ½ cup softened margarine and ½ cup shortening. Beat for four minutes.

3. Add 1 cup powdered sugar. Beat four more minutes.

4. Add the thoroughly cooled flour mixture and two teaspoons vanilla. Beat until combined and light and fluffy.

Basic Cream Filling

This is a very rich and delicious vanilla filling I found in a Fannie Farmer cookbook. It can be used in cakes, eclairs, cream puffs, or eaten straight from the spoon. Dear Fannie, you rock!

2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten *Make sure that you remove as much egg white as possible, as it will make your filling lumpy.
4 teaspoons vanilla

Heat the milk in heavy-bottomed pan until very hot but not boiling. Mix the sugar, flour, and salt together in a bowl, stir in the hot milk, and beat until well-blended. Pour back into the pan and continue to stir vigorously over low heat for 4-5 minutes until very thick and smooth. Add the egg yolks (pouring in a thin stream while stirring) and cook for a few more minutes. Cool, stirring from time to time, then add the vanilla. Makes enough filling for cream puffs, eclairs, or more than enough for a three-layer cake.


Variation: Banana Cream Filling
Omit the vanilla. Mash two large bananas and beat until smooth, add four tablespoons lemon juice, and stir into the cooled filling.

Variation 2: Chocolate Cream Filling
Melt 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate in the milk and use 2 cups sugar instead of 1 cup.

Variation 3: Add Your Own Flavors
I think chocolate-mint cream filling would be yummy...

Cream Puff Variation: Chocolate Meets Chocolate

I've not tried this recipe, but it looks good on paper...

Chocolate Cream Puff Dough:
Prepare dough as above, only add 1 tablespoon sugar to the milk and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder to the flour.

Chocolate Pastry Filling:
2 cups milk
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream

Bring milk to boil in a small pan. In a bowl, heat the yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Stir in the flour. Slowly pour about 1 cup of the hot milk into the yolks, stirring constantly. Return the yolk mixture to the remaining milk in the pan and cook, stirring until the sauce boils for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth. Strain into a bowl and cover closely with plastic wrap. Cool to room temperature. In a bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff. Fold into the cooled pastry cream, and then fill the cream puffs.

Top with chocolate frosting, eat, and then nurse your bellyache.

Melt-in-your-Mouth Chocolate Frosting (Chocolate Ganache)

This is the richest, yummiest frosting EVER. DON'T ARGUE WITH ME!!!! It just is, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Makes about 6 1/2 cups, enough to fill and frost a three-layer cake.

Ingredients:
24 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (*I sometimes add 1 extra cup chocolate chips to help the ganache firm up faster. Shameful, I know.)
1 quart heavy cream
1 teaspoon light corn syrup

Place chocolate and cream in a heavy saucepan. Cook over med.-low heat until combined and thickened. Increase heat to medium and cook about 8 minutes more, stirring constantly and watching carefully to avoid scorching. Remove from heat, stir in extra chocolate chips, if desired, and whisk the mixture until smooth and melted. Transfer to a metal bowl and chill in refrigerator until mixture reaches spreading consistency (a few hours), stirring every 15 to 20 minutes so that it cools evenly.

Cream Custard

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat the milk in a pan until very hot, then briskly stir in the granulated sugar, flour, and salt. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until very thick. Add the egg yolks and cook, continuing to stir, for another 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and cool, stirring occasionally. Cover well and refrigerate until ready to use.

Chocolate Frosting (usually for cream puffs and eclairs)

Ingredients:

6 ounces semisweet chocolate
4 tablespoons butter

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a heavy bottomed small pan over moderate heat, stirring constantly until smooth.* Spoon over filled cream puffs or eclairs and let drip down the sides.

*NOTE: I cheat and use the microwave. Don't melt the chips entirely, as they will completely melt if the mixture is stirred smooth after removing it from the microwave. Watch it carefully and stir a few times to avoid scorching the chocolate.
**Note: we have been living microwave-free from some time now. Melting chocolate easily is one of the few things I miss about this.