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Carrot Cake with Brown Butter and No Clutter

Source of Recipe

From "Smitten Kitchen Keepers" by Deb Perelman


Recipe Introduction

"Can a cake be indignant? I recently read all of Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby books to my daughter, and the word 'indignant' came up a lot, but always in a mildly charming way, a bit like the way I feel about this cake. This is a carrot cake that refuses to share its space with anything—not pineapple, not raisins, and no coconut either. It's a carrot cake that demands you pay attention to the carrots and not hide them—as if they're too wholesome to be in cake—behind so many ingredients that, with your eyes closed, you'd never find them. This story allows only a single plot twist, the realization that browning your melted butter doesn't just lend a nutty depth to the loaf, but turns a simple cream cheese frosting into something so phenomenal, I genuinely feared it was too good and would steal the spotlight from the cake. Fortunately, I returned to my senses—an excellent frosting is an established good thing!—and we are all the beneficiaries."

List of Ingredients

Cake:
â—¦ 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, any temperature
â—¦ 2 cups packed carrot grated on the large holes of a box grater
â—¦ ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
â—¦ ½ cup granulated sugar
â—¦ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
â—¦ 2 teaspoons kosher salt
â—¦ 1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
â—¦ 1 teaspoon ground ginger
â—¦ 1 teaspoon baking soda
â—¦ 1 teaspoon baking powder
â—¦ 3 large eggs
â—¦ 2 cups all-purpose flour
â—¦ â…” cup buttermilk

Frosting:
â—¦ 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
â—¦ ¾ cup dark brown sugar
â—¦ Pinch of salt
â—¦ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract


Recipe

Heat the oven to 350° F. Lightly coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Make the cake: In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden, and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. As soon as you begin to see golden-brown flecks around the edges or bottom, turn the heat off. Keep stirring: the color will continue to darken until the solids are a fragrant nutty brown.

Place the grated carrots in a large bowl, and pour all but the last 2 tablespoons of brown butter over it (it's fine if the butter is still warm; set the remaining brown butter aside for the frosting). Thoroughly mix in the sugars, vanilla, salt, spices, and baking soda and powder. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Add half the flour, and stir until it's just combined. Add the buttermilk and mix, then stir in the remaining flour. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and smooth the top. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick or tester inserted into the middle of the cake—but also into the top of the cake, closer to the dome—comes out batter-free. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Assemble and serve: When the cake cools, make the frosting: Combine cream cheese, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, and the remaining brown butter (including any brown butter sediment that might have stayed in the bowl) with a whisk or an electric hand mixer until lightened and evenly mixed.

Remove cooled carrot cake from pan using the parchment sling to aid you and transfer it to a plate. If you'd like it flatter on top for frosting, use a long serrated knife to horizontally cut the dome off the carrot cake. (That's a snack.) Dollop cream cheese frosting on the top and use a butter knife or small offset spatula to thickly spread it, swirling it as decoratively as you'd like. Serve in slices. Leftovers keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Serves 8 to 10