Eva Raes Carrot Cake Recipes

Steps:

• For the French toast: Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with butter.
• Tear the bread into chunks and evenly distribute in the baking dish. Sprinkle the carrots and pecans over the bread. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk together with the milk, cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until needed (overnight preferably).
• For the topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until it resembles fine pebbles. Fold in the pecan pieces and store in a resealable plastic bag in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
• For the glaze: Add the cream cheese to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, milk and lemon juice and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Keep in a small airtight bowl.
• When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Unwrap the baking dish with the French toast mixture, sprinkle with the topping and bake for 45 minutes for a softer, bread pudding-like texture or 1 hour for a firmer, more crisp texture.
• Drizzle over the glaze. Scoop out individual portions and serve with warm pancake syrup.

Steps:

• For the cake: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour three 9-inch round, 2-inch deep cake pans, flour the insides and tap out the excess.
• Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut and raisins.
• Working in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a whisk, beat the sugar and oil together until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. If you are working in a mixer, reduce the speed to low, if you're working by hand switch to a large rubber spatula, and gently stir in the flour mixture - mix only until the dry ingredients disappear. Just as gently, stir in the chunky ingredients.
• Divide the batter among the baking pans and slide the pans into the oven. Bake the cakes for 40 to 50 minutes, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cakes are properly baked when a knife inserted into the centers of the cakes comes out clean; the cakes will just start to come away from the edges. Transfer the pans to cooling racks, cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto racks to cool to room temperature. (At this point, the cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months; thaw before frosting.)
• For the frosting: Working in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.
• If you'd like to have coconut in the filling, scoop out about 1/2 of the frosting and stir the coconut into this portion.
• To frost the cake, place one layer of the cake, right-side up, on a cardboard round or a cake plate. If you've added coconut to the frosting, use half of coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer. Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake top-side down. Frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting. Top with the last layer, right-side up and use the plain frosting to cover the top - and the sides, if you want - of the cake. Finish the top layer with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle on these ingredients now, while the frosting is soft. Slide the cake into the refrigerator for 15 minutes, just to set the frosting.
• Serving: The cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper, overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and, while it's good plain, it's better with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or even some lemon curd with a little whipped cream folded in.
• Storing: Covered the cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen, uncovered, and then, when it is firmed, wrapped airtight and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months; defrost, still wrapped, in the refrigerator overnight.

Steps:

• **To make burnt sugar, cook sugar in a small skillet over medium heat until it carmelizes; pour immediately into batter.
• Combine oil and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
• Sift dry ingredients together in another bowl and add half to oil and sugar.
• Add eggs, one at a time, alternating with the remaining dry ingredients.
• Stir in carrots, flavorings and nuts.
• Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
• Bake at 325°F for approximately 1 hour.
• Cool and frost.