classic carrot cake with bourbon maple buttercream
No bells or whistles in this cake. Just dope-ass fluffy spiced layers of carroty excellence.
I’m kinda torn on my opinion of thoroughly embellished carrot cake versus the simple kind like this dude identifies as. Many recipes contain an abundance of fillers like coconut or nuts or raisins. I don’t mind the frills, but I also don’t think they’re necessary. Plus, the chunks make slicing a total pain in the fucking arse.
Cue massive cake collapse!
So, today, I wanted to share a simple but pretty carrot layer cake. It’s almost March, after all, and once March flies in everyone’s tired of winter’s shit (except me) and ready to welcome in the new season. AKA Easter. Which isn’t until April. But what do I know.
In this tower of excellence we’ve four plush layers of spiced carrot cake frosted with a bourbon and maple-infused cream cheese buttercream. Heaps of it. So much. I am a total frosting ho and definitely licked the bowl once I used what I needed to. Where there’s bourbon, there’s my mouth. Just a rule of life.
Peas and Carrots
Except no peas. That’d be nasty. As we’ve established, just carrots and some other cake shit.
Our friend the carrot cake starts with a base of vegetable oil, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat these together until well combined. Then, whip in four eggs, one at a time, followed by some vanilla and plain Greek yogurt. The latter adds a nice softness to each layer.
Then, your dry shit. Flour, spices – cinnamon, ginger, and clove, namely – baking powder and baking soda, and some salt. Stir until just combined.
Now, the carrots. The key to not having big unsightly chunks of carrot in your batter is to grate them on a very fine setting, or run them through your food processor until your reach that texture. This will massively improve the texture of the cake.
Also, once you’ve measured out your carrots, wring out extra water with paper towels or a clean tea towel. Carrots won’t juice as much as, say, zucchini, but removing excess moisture also creates a nicer, softer cake.
That said…fold in your finely grated, wrung-out carrots with a spatula. Don’t overmix your batter, it should have a few non-carrot lumps floating around.
Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Bake Me a Cake
I used two 9-inch cake pans for my layers – and eventually halved them to make four, but that comes later. You can also achieve a cute and very tall layer cake with three 6-inch pans. You may have to adjust the baking time a smidge.
Grease your pans with butter or oil, then divide the batter evenly amongst them. Some folks like to weight the batter as they pour to ensure a tidy, even number. I don’t give that much of a shit so I eyeball it. Just ensure your eyeballing is fairly precise.
Bake your cakes 30-35 minutes. An inserted toothpick should emerge with just a few crumbs. Let the cakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Completely is very important. Incomplete cooling = impossible slicing, and melty frosting. No bueno.
A note: if you need to wait to decorate the cake but wanted to prep ahead of time, this is where I’d stop before storing the layers for later. Laters for layer. Hmph. I pack mine up in ziptop bags and pop in the fridge up to 3 days before spiffing them up with frosting. Chilled layers are also much easier to halve.
Whenever you do decide to halve them, if you decide, the easiest way I’ve found to do this is to run a serrated knife around the perimeter of the layer, making a shallow cut. Then, while spinning the cake layer, gently work the knife through the center using your perimeter cut as a guideline until the layers are separated. Sorry if that descriptor sucked. It made more sense in my head.
Also keep in mind: you don’t need to be perfect! Just as long as the layers are thick enough to hold frosting, you’ve done a great job, sweetie.
Speaking of frosting…
(Butter)cream of the Crop
I use bourbon in my cream cheese frostings all the time, because I love bourbon and it spruces up a buttercream just enough to make it interesting without making it weird.
Once your cakes are cooled and layered as you wish, make this beautiful, fluffy, creamy robe of excellence. Working on low speed first, beat butter with cream cheese until combined. Add in vanilla, bourbon, and maple syrup, until the mixture is smooth.
Then, work in your powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. You may have to lower your speed a little more to ensure you don’t coat everything you love and don’t love in white residue. I stopped at 5 1/2 cups before the texture was to my liking, but you may need up to 6.
Once the frosting begins to look like proper frosting – silky, thick, and creamy – work the speed of your mixer up to high and whip until fluffy. Spreadable, but not too viscous.
Plop one of your cake layers on a stand or a flat plate. Frost the top to coat – 1/2 cup of buttercream is a good amount if you like working with numbers – then set a second layer on top. Repeat your frosting and layering until you used all your layers (and if you only have two, all the quicker!)
Use the remainder of your buttercream to frost all over the cake. If you have some left after that, you can pipe on some pretty swirls and curls. I didn’t do that because I’m lazy as fuck and my back started to hurt from bending over my prop table. 30 going on 90 over here.
To garnish, I like some simple chopped walnuts. Not much more necessary to me. The cake boasts enough flavor for my liking, but the nuts add a nice little texture to the top.
To store your completed cake, I highly recommend clearing a spot in your fridge. Cream cheese frostings are less stable than pure buttercreams, so leaving it out at room temp, even covered, may result in a gooey and runny cake. Still tasty, but less aesthetically presentable and texturally satisfying.
Cake will last about 5 days in the fridge, and about a month in the freezer, properly and tightly contained in a tupperware.
Hope you enjoy! Carrot cake, to me, is the dessert pinnacle of winter’s end. So, if you’re expediting the warmer months, I’d say it’s okay to make this while February creeps out the door.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Layers and layers of CAKE:
Swirled Cranberry Champagne Cake
classic carrot cake with bourbon maple buttercream
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups finely shredded carrots
- chopped walnuts for garnish
bourbon maple buttercream
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 12 oz cream cheese, chilled
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp bourbon
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 5-6 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch or three 6-inch cake pans with butter.
- In a large bowl, beat the oil, sugar, and brown sugar until combined, about 2-3 minutes. Whip in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated, then the Greek yogurt and vanilla.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until just combined. Squeeze excess moisture out of the carrots with paper towels or a clean tea towel. Fold in with a rubber spatula.
- Divide the batter amongst the prepared cake pans. Tap a couple times on the counter to remove air bubbles. Bake 30-35 minutes until an inserted toothpick emerges with just a few moist crumbs. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then rub a knife around the edges to loosen the cakes and flip onto a wire rack. Cool completely.
- When the cakes are cooled, carefully slice each in half. Or, leave it in two big layers! Up to you.
- Make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium-low speed until combined, then add the vanilla, bourbon, and maple syrup. Whip until incorporated. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating between each addition, until the frosting is smooth. Then CRANK THAT SHIT TO HIGH BRO and beat for 1-2 minutes until fluffy.
- Place one cake layer on a cake stand or large flat plate. Frost the top until covered. Add another cake layer and frost. Repeat with the remaining two layers, if you made four. Then, frost all over the remaining buttercream. If you have some left, do some fancy piping or some shit. I'm ass at decorating so I kept mine simple.
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