Carrot Ginger Cake
My very favorite kind of cake is carrot. If I am going to eat a piece of cake, it needs to have some good substance. Plain old vanilla or chocolate just won’t cut it for me. I love carrot cake so much that we chose carrot cake as our wedding cake.
As a culture, we most often eat carrot cake in the spring, for Easter. Not in this house. My kids make it for us on our anniversary!
When I was in college, my roommate gave me this recipe. It had never occurred to me to combine ginger and carrot, but man, is it good. In most carrot cake recipes, you shred the carrots and combine them into the batter. In this recipe, you will boil the carrots until they are tender and then mash them in a blender with some buttermilk. Brilliant! It makes the cake so smooth and oh so good!
I have added an orange cream filling in this cake. Andy said it tastes like an orange cream-sicle. I iced it with plain vanilla buttercream but it would also be amazing with cream cheese frosting. If you like the orange filling enough, you could even double it and ice the cake with it. You decide because, really, you can’t go wrong here!
Carrot Ginger Cake
This moist cake combines the typical carrot cake flavor with ginger and a creamy orange filling.
Ingredients
- 1 lb carrots
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 3 Tbs fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon ground
- 1 tsp ginger ground
Filling
- 1/2 cup butter softened to room temp.
- 4 oz cream cheese softened to room temp.
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 2 Tbls concentrated orange juice
Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 cup butter softened to room temp.
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tsp vanilla
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease and flour two 9″ round cake pans.
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Peel and cut carrots into 1-1/2 inch pieces and cover with water in a small sauce pan. Boil until they are tender when you poke them with a fork. Drain the carrots and place them in a blender with the buttermilk. Blend until smooth.
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Pour into a bowl and add the sugar, eggs, fresh ginger, vanilla, orange zest, and oil. Beat until smooth.
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Sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Stir until combined.
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Divide the batter between the two pans. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes and then turn out onto a cake plate to finish cooling.
Filling
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Combine all ingredients and beat with an electric or hand mixer until smooth.
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Level one of the cakes by taking a bread knife and sliding it horizontally, cutting off the rounded top. Spread the filling on the flat surface of the cake. Carefully place the other cake on top of it.
Vanilla Buttercream
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Mix the butter, sugar, and vanilla and 1/4 cup of the sour cream in a bowl with a hand or electric mixer. Add more sour cream as needed until the icing is light and fluffy.
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Ice the top and sides of the cake with the buttercream. You could also use cream cheese frosting. Refrigerate for 1 hour to help the icing set.
