Classic Carrot Cake with Passionfruit Brown Butter Frosting
A Double Classic
I’m so excited for this classic carrot cake recipe!! You know I have a new carrot cake version every year and this one is a new rendition you will love so much! It has golden raisins plumped with bourbon, roasted pecans, a bit of cream cheese in the cake batter and the frosting is made with brown butter for extra nuttiness and passionfruit pulp for that final kick that will keep you coming back for more! Despite all that is going on, I promise this cake is so easy to make, I’m sure it will be your new favorite this season.
The other reason I would love for you to make this cake is because I feel I’m sharing a very important piece of my life with you. If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, you probably know that carrot cakes were Mariana’s favorite. The first time I baked a carrot cake in my life was for her. Because she wasn’t able to chew I started pureeing carrots and adding them to the cake batter, as you would do with a pumpkin or banana bread. Since then, I’ve been reinterpreting this classic cake in different ways, making new renditions with unique ingredients or different presentations. And they are all sooooo, so good!
Carrot cake is something very close to my heart and I simply love making a new version of it every year. I think carrot cakes are part of the DNA of this blog. They will always be celebrated with so much love over here!
Now, for this year’s version, I went with a more classic carrot cake but with a few twists to make it unique to us. I used golden raisins instead of dark raisins because they are mellower, and soaked them in boozy bourbon, which is optional of course (but please don’t leave it out!). Another twist was adding a bit of passionfruit to the brown butter cream cheese frosting and a nice drizzle on top, and this was so wow!! It added a nice punch to each and every bite.
I’m leaving these cues below to help you get prepared for when you are going to make this carrot cake. Read on:
How to make this Classic Carrot Cake recipe:
As it happened on my previous Bourbon Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cupcakes post, this frosting gets better with some chilling time. I highly recommend you do the frosting first and let it chill while you make the cake. You can even make it the day before. This frosting is so soft it won’t get too stiff on the fridge. Just cover with cling paper and if doing the day before, let it loose the chill over the counter for 5 minutes before frosting the cake.
If you need to substitute passionfruit, do it with another fruit pulp such as mango. If you can’t find any pulp then leave it out of the frosting and use another sour and acidic fruit in chunks to decorate, such as pineapple or raspberries. You can omit the fruit component altogether.
I highly recommend roasting your pecans at 325° for a few minutes. This will enhance their flavor a lot and they will be fragrant and nutty when you add them to the cake batter. Remember to increase oven temperature to 350° as soon as you take the pecans out.
While the pecans are roasting soak the raisins in bourbon to make them super plumply and soft. The reality is that the booze mostly evaporates but bourbon’s particular honey and spiced notes balance perfectly the raisins and the cake. You can use dark rum, whiskey or something like Grand Marnier. You can also use any juice or water.
Shred the carrots with a medium cut. If the chunks are too thick they won’t cook properly and if they are too thin they will get mushy and basically disappear into the batter.
Since this cake is made with oil and is not heavily mixed, I added a bit of cream cheese to help emulsify better all the wet ingredients plus it brings up some tanginess to the sweet spiced notes.
When adding the fixings to the cake do it in a folding motion so you don’t over mix the batter.
Let the baked cakes cool down before frosting. I placed cakes in the fridge for 20 minutes to speed up this process.
So, it’s not a matter of if, is a matter of when! When are you going to make this cake? It will look so adorable on any spring celebration. I’m not sure if I’ll be making it for Mariana’s birthday, which is soon, but I can’t wait to make it again!
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Classic Carrot Cake with Passionfruit Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Passionfruit Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
◯ Butter (salted or unsalted) - 8 TBSP (1 stick, ½ cup)
◯ Cream cheese (in bricks, not whipped) - 16 oz. (2 single boxes)
◯ Confectioner’s sugar, sifted - 3 ¾ cup
◯ Vanilla extract - ¼ Tsp
◯ Passionfruit pulp - 2 TBSP
◯ Fine sea salt - to taste (if using unsalted butter you will need a bit more than if you are using regular butter)
◯ Drops of freshly squeezed lime juice (if you have limes around)
Classic Carrot Cake
◯ Pecans or walnuts - ¾ cup
◯ Golden raisins - ½ cup
◯ Bourbon, dark rum or any other liquid such as juice or water - ⅓ to ½ cup
◯ Carrots - about 3 to 4 large
◯ All-purpose flour (preferably unbleached) - 1 ½ cup
◯ Baking powder - 2 ¼ Tsp
◯ Ground saigon cinnamon - 1 TBSP
◯ Ground ginger - 1 Tsp
◯ Ground nutmeg - ½ Tsp
◯ Ground cardamom - ½ Tsp
◯ Fine sea salt - ½ Tsp
◯ Natural granulated sugar - ½ cup
◯ Brown sugar - ½ cup
◯ Vegetable oil - ½ cup
◯ Eggs, large - 2
◯ Vanilla extract - 2 Tsp
◯ Cream cheese, softened - 4 oz
Details
Yield:
2-layered 8” cake
Total time:
2 hours, including chilling and baking times
Active time:
15 minutes to make the frosting (divided), 25 minutes to make the cake batter, 10 minutes to frost the cake.
Equipment:
two bowls, stand mixer or electric hand mixer, 8” cake pans.
Steps
To make the frosting:
In a small sauce pan place butter and start melting over medium to medium high heat. A couple of minutes after the butter has melted and is getting foamy start swirling the pan in place. As soon as the butter turns a deep amber color and smells nutty remove from heat. If possible, strain it over a large bowl where you are planning to mix up the frosting. Place in the fridge to make the butter solid again, about 45 minutes to an hour.
In the meantime, take the cream cheese out to soften it.
Add softened cream cheese to the brown butter bowl and beat in medium high speed (#4 in the Kitchen Aid) until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Slow down the mixer and start adding the confectioner’s sugar in a few rounds. Add the ¼ teaspoon of vanilla and the 2 tablespoons of passionfruit pulp. Add salt only if necessary. Add a few drops of lime juice if using. Increase speed again and mix until frosting is light and fluffy and has no lumps of sugar, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Cover with cling wrap and set in the fridge, ideally for a few hours or overnight (If making a day before, let the frosting out for 5 minutes so it is a bit soft for frosting).
To make the carrot cake:
Grease two 8” cake pans with butter or baking spray or line them with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 325°. Place pecans in a baking sheet. Roast them for 10 to 15 minutes, just until they are warm and start to smell fragrant. Remove from oven and let them cool.
While pecans are roasting, pour over the ½ cup of raisins the ½ cup of bourbon or the liquid you are using. Set aside.
With a medium shredder shred carrots until you have 1 ½ cup (see notes above). Set carrots aside.
If pecans are already cooled down enough to handle, roughly chop them in small pieces.
Increase oven temperature to 350°.
Over a medium bowl sift together the 1 ½ cup of flour, the 2 ¼ teaspoon of baking powder, the 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, the 1 teaspoon of ginger, the ½ teaspoon of nutmeg, the ½ teaspoon of cardamom and the ½ teaspoon of sea salt.
Place the ½ cup of granulated sugar and the ½ cup of brown sugar in a large bowl. Pour the ½ cup of vegetable oil and using a hand electric mixer or stand mixer beat on medium speed (#4 in the Kitchen Aid) until you have a grainy paste, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well incorporated. Add the 2 teaspoons of vanilla and the 4 ounces of cream cheese and mix just until incorporated and there are very small lumps of cream cheese, 1 to 2 minutes.
Decrease speed to the lowest and start adding dry ingredients mixture in three additions. Stop mixing as soon as the last addition is incorporated.
Strain raisins. Add shredded carrots, chopped pecans and strained raisins and using a wooden spoon or silicon spatula fold in by hand until well distributed.
Pour batter in the cake pans, divided equally. Gently spread across the top if needed to make sure the batter is evenly distributed. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean after you inserted through the center. Let the cakes cool down for 5 to 7 minutes before flipping them and removing from pan to let them cool down completely. If frosting immediately, place them in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes to speed up the process.
Frosting the cake:
Transfer a few tablespoons of the cream cheese frosting on top of one of the cakes. Using and off-set spatula or large spoon spread until you have a ½” thick layer of frosting. Place the other cake on top.
Transfer a few tablespoons of the frosting on top but this time spread it to the sides and in one direction, trying to leave a thin frosting layer (this will be the crumb coat). Remember to scrap your spatula every few glides, especially if there’s frosting accumulated on it and especially if you are seeing crumbs on the frosting in the spatula. Following the same cues, spread a thin layer of frosting through the sides as well. Place cake in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
Take the cake out and this time dump a greater amount of frosting on top. Start spreading it liberally through the top and through the sides. Decorate with a nice drizzle of passionfruit pulp if desired. Slice and serve!
You may store any leftover cake covered in the fridge for one week.
