Towering Carrot Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
• In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
• To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil two 9-inch round cake pans. Combine oil, eggs, carrots, pineap-ple, vanilla, pecans, and coconut; mix well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to combined moist ingredients. Mix for 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle of cake comes out clean. Turn cake layers onto cooling racks and allow to thoroughly cool. Place one cooled cake layer on a serving plate. Frost the top of the first layer with cream cheese frosting. Add second layer and frost the outside of the cake with cream cheese frost-ing, creating a ¼-inch rim around the perimeter of the top of the cake. This will help contain the caramel sauce. Place caramel sauce on top of the cake and garnish with the candied pe-cans. Store the cake in refrigerator until ready to serve. Caramel Sauce In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and cream. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a full boil. Reduce heat. Boil gently for 3 minutes, stirring occasion-ally. Stir in vanilla. Allow to cool. Candied Pecans Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and orange juice. Add pecans, stirring to coat. Spread on prepared sheet. Bake 12 minutes or un-til nuts are browned and syrup is bubbly. Pour nuts onto a sheet of well-buttered waxed pa-per, separating nuts into single pieces. Allow to cool. TIP: The candied pecans are great as a snack, on salads, and in yogurt. They make a deli-cious gift as well! Cream Cheese Frosting Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on low until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until light and smooth.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
• Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat 3 minutes. Add vanilla, water, and carrots. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, then finely chopped pecans.
• Scrape batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cakes to loosen, and turn out cakes onto rack. Turn right side up, and let cool completely.
• Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of 2 cakes. Place one trimmed cake, cut side up, on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with second trimmed cake, cut side down. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with remaining cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Gently press coarsely chopped pecans onto sides of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

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:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil two 9-inch round cake pans. Combine oil, eggs, carrots, pineap-ple, vanilla, pecans, and coconut; mix well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to combined moist ingredients. Mix for 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle of cake comes out clean. Turn cake layers onto cooling racks and allow to thoroughly cool. Place one cooled cake layer on a serving plate. Frost the top of the first layer with cream cheese frosting. Add second layer and frost the outside of the cake with cream cheese frost-ing, creating a ¼-inch rim around the perimeter of the top of the cake. This will help contain the caramel sauce. Place caramel sauce on top of the cake and garnish with the candied pe-cans. Store the cake in refrigerator until ready to serve. Caramel Sauce In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and cream. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a full boil. Reduce heat. Boil gently for 3 minutes, stirring occasion-ally. Stir in vanilla. Allow to cool. Candied Pecans Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and orange juice. Add pecans, stirring to coat. Spread on prepared sheet. Bake 12 minutes or un-til nuts are browned and syrup is bubbly. Pour nuts onto a sheet of well-buttered waxed pa-per, separating nuts into single pieces. Allow to cool. TIP: The candied pecans are great as a snack, on salads, and in yogurt. They make a deli-cious gift as well! Cream Cheese Frosting Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on low until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until light and smooth.

Steps:

• Grease and lightly flour three 9 x 1 1/2-inch round baking pans; set aside.
• In a covered medium saucepan cook carrots in a moderate amount of boiling water about 20 minutes or until very tender; drain.
• Cool carrots slightly. Coarsely mash with a potato masher.
• In a very large bowl stir together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add vegetable oil, eggs, pineapple and vanilla extract. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until all ingredients are combined. Fold in mashed carrots, pecans and coconut.
• Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven 35 - 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean.
• Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely on racks. While layers are cooling, prepare cream cheese frosting.
• Cream Cheese Frosting:.
• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add cream cheese and vanilla extract; beat until fluffy. Stir in chopped pecans.
• Use pecan halves for garnish if desired.
• Praline Sauce:.
• In small saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and whipping cream. Bring to full boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat.
• Boil gently 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in vanilla extract. Cool.
• To Assemble: Place one cake layer, top side up, on a cake plate. Using about 1 cup of the frosting, pipe or spoon a rim about 1 inch wide and 1/2 inch high around outer edge of layer.
• Spoon about 2 tablespoons frosting into center, leaving an unfrosted ring. Spread about half of the praline sauce into the unfrosted ring. Sauce will not fill ring.
• Add second cake, top side up. Repeat frosting and filling steps using another 1 cup of the frosting and remaining praline sauce.
• Add third cake layer, top side up. Frost top and side with remaining frosting. If desired, garnish with additional chopped pecans.
• Cover. Store in refrigerator.
• Let refrigerated cake stand, covered, at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Or thaw frozen cake, covered, in refrigerator overnight. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use one tablespoon of the vegetable oil to grease a 9- by 11-inch sheet pan.
• In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, sugar, carrots, walnuts, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir to combine, then add eggs and mix well. Pour the batter into the pan and cook for 45 minutes or until the cake is springy to the touch. Remove from oven and cool, in pan.
• To make the frosting, cream the butter, vegetable shortening and cream cheese with a wooden spoon or hand mixer. Add the milk and vanilla extract. Add the confectioners' sugar and stir until smooth. When cake is cooled, frost.