Father's Day Cake

Carrot Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream

If you don't already know, I dislike raisins.   I actually refuse to eat carrot cake just because of the raisins.  I got some organic carrots and thought this was the perfect opportunity to make a carrot cake without the raisins.  The special father's day touch?  White chocolate butter cream instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting.  It makes the cake much lighter and a little more elegant for Father's Day!

Carrot Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream
Adapted from Ron Ben Israel

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 1/2 ounces chopped walnuts 

1 1/2 ounces chopped pecans

Wet Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3 cups carrots, shredded 

Ron's White Chocolate Buttercream:

3/4 cups sugar
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
3 sticks unsweetened butter, softened but still cool
4 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9- by 2-inch round cake pans, attach a parchment circle to the bottom of each pan, grease and flour again.

Mix well the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cayenne in a bowl. Toss in the walnuts and pecans to coat.

Using a stand mixer, whisk the sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs for 3 minutes on medium speed. Add the carrots and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix for 1 minute on low speed to incorporate.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, and then remove the cake from the pans onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before applying the frosting.

To frost the cake, place a small dollop of the Ron's White Chocolate Buttercream in the center of the serving platter; this will help affix your cake to the platter. Then, put the first layer of cake on the platter. Apply a generous amount of buttercream to the top center of the cake. Using a flat spatula, spread the buttercream, starting at the center and moving outward to the sides of the cake. It's important to use enough buttercream and to let the spatula only touch the top of it, so you don't pick up any crumbs from the cake.

Next, fit the second layer on top and repeat. Then, refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes to harden the fillings/buttercream.

To serve, cut into strips the length of the cake and 2 inches wide and 1-inch thick rectangular cake slices.

For the buttercream:

Place the sugar and egg whites in large metal mixer bowl set over simmering water. Whisk constantly until the sugar melts and the mixture is very thin and warm.

Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes.

Continue beating on low speed until cool, about 7 more minutes.

Beat in small pieces of the cool but soft butter on low speed. The mixture may curdle before coming together. Gradually beat in the melted and cooled white chocolate.

Re-beat occasionally while frosting the cake to maintain a smooth texture.

Whoop whoop whoopie pie

Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie

Soft and fluffy carrot cake sandwiched in between a lightly sweetened honey cream cheese filling.  This creative twist on a whoopie pie is worth the effort.

Stress relief tip of the day:
Turn up the jams.  The 2011 American Psychological Association's "Stress in America" report was released on January 11, 2012.  It is obvious that adults manage their stress in a variety of ways.  Some of the most common techniques in this report include listening to music (48 percent), exercising or walking (47 percent), reading (42 percent), spending time with friends or family (39 percent) and napping (34 percent).  Remember, the key is finding a stress management technique that suits you.  How much do you know about stress? Take this simple quiz to test your "stress smarts."


Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie Recipe
INGREDIENTS

Cookie Batter
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ tablespoon crystallized ginger, finely chopped
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1½ cups of peeled and grated organic carrots

Cream Cheese Icing
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons honey
12 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces, softened

DIRECTIONS

1. Make the cookies: In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat together the butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar until lightened, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the eggs one at a time, beating the yolk of the first egg until it's incorporated before adding the second egg. Stir in the vanilla.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet, then gently stir in the oats and carrots. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least six hours or up to overnight.

3. Preheat the oven to 325°. Scoop rounded tablespoons of the dough for larger cookies (or teaspoon size for miniature ones) onto a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned and set.  Keep cookies spaced far apart because the batter tends to spread.  Remove from the oven and set the cookies aside to cool, then transfer to a cooling rack.

4. Make the icing: In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly beat in the honey and cream cheese until incorporated. Spoon the frosting into a piping bag and pipe the frosting onto half of the cookies; place the other cookies on top to create sandwiches. Serve immediately or store the cookies and frosting separately for up to 3 days.

Adapted from Tasting Table