Brown Butter Carrot Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

I don't believe in raisins, nuts, or pineapple in carrot cake. Those things are fine, generally, but carrot cake should be all about the carrots (and the cream cheese frosting). If those things are a requirement to your ideal carrot cake, maybe this cake will change your mind.... either way, you've been warned. If you agree with me already; thank goodness. We can be real friends.

This brown butter carrot cake came from a Serious Eats post by Stella Park, the famous baker behind Bravetart. I was on the hunt for a three-tier carrot cake to make for a co-worker's mom as the prize for winning a "moon cobbler" bake-off. Stella's recipe was really intriguing, but it also called for a massive amount of butter and more eggs than I had in my fridge. The custard frosting in particular seemed like more work than I had time for, so I opted to halve Stella's recipe for brown butter carrot cake and pair it with the whipped cream cheese frosting from Sarah Kieffer, which I've posted about before and love as an easy, no-butter, cream cheese-forward frosting.

Happily for everyone, Stella's cake was a total hit, and I really don't think the original scale is "right" for the way I like to eat my cake. The recipe as I've written it below yields the optimal ratio of cake to whipped frosting, and feeds slightly fewer people than an entire army.

Adapted from Bravetart & the Vanilla Bean Baking Book

Brown Butter Carrot Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 50 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 28 minutes minutes

Cooling and frosting time: 5 hours hours

Total Time: 6 hours hours 18 minutes minutes

Servings: 12

Ingredients

Brown Butter Carrot Cake

• 1 pound carrots whole and unpeeled
• 8 ounces (2 sticks; 225 grams) unsalted butter
• 7 ounces (scant 1 cup; 195 grams) white sugar
• 4 ounces (½ cup, gently packed; 117 grams) light brown sugar
• 1 ½-2* teaspoons ground cinnamon
• *1 ½-2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• Scant 1 teaspoon (3 ½ g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt for table salt, use about half as much by volume or the same weight
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• ⅓ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ tablespoon (¼ ounce; 7 grams) vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs straight from the fridge
• 5 ½ ounces (1 ¼ cups, spooned; 155 grams) all-purpose flour such as Gold Medal
• 2 ½ ounces (½ cup; 70 grams) whole wheat flour not stone-ground

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces (227 grams) full-fat cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 ⅛ cup (132 grams) confectioner's sugar sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped (or another 3 teaspoons vanilla extract)
• ⅓ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups heavy cream

Instructions

Getting Ready (prep you can do ahead)

• Peel, trim, and shred the carrots, then measure out 12 ounces (3 cups, firmly packed). This can be refrigerated up to 1 week in a zip-top bag.
• In a 2-quart stainless steel saucier, completely melt the butter over medium-low heat. Increase to medium and simmer, stirring with a heat-resistant spatula while the butter hisses and pops. Continue cooking and stirring, scraping up any brown bits that form along the pan, until the butter is golden-yellow and perfectly silent. Pour into a heat-safe measuring cup, along with all the toasty brown bits, and proceed as directed, or cover and refrigerate up to 1 week; melt before using.

Carrot Cake

• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 350°F (180°C). Lightly grease three 8-inch anodized aluminum cake pans and line with parchment (explanation and tutorial here). If you don’t have three pans, it’s okay to bake the cakes in stages; the batter will keep at room temperature until needed.
• Combine white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla, and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on low to moisten, then increase to medium and whip until thick and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together all-purpose and whole wheat flours. Drizzle in the brown butter in a steady stream, then reduce speed to low and add the flours. Once smooth, fold in shredded carrots with a flexible spatula.
• Divide batter between the prepared cake pans, about 14.5 ounces each. If you don't have three pans, the remaining batter can be held at room temperature up to 3 hours. Bake until cakes are golden, about 15-20 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center will have a few crumbs still attached, and your fingertip will leave a slight indentation in the puffy crust.
• Cool cakes directly in their pans for 1 hour, then run a butter knife around the edges to loosen. Invert onto a wire rack, peel off the parchment, and return cakes right side up (covered in plastic, the cakes can be left at room temperature for a few hours). Prepare the whipped cream frosting.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

• Make sure your cream cheese is truly room-temperature (assuming a kitchen temperature of 65-70°F). No kidding around. Otherwise this will fail.
• In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add the sifted dry ingredients, food coloring (if using), vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla extract to the beaten cream cheese. Beat on medium speed until light and completely smooth, about 3 minutes. Do not short-change the time you give to this step – the frosting should visibly thicken and lighten in color during this time.
• Scrape down the bowl and replace the paddle attachment with a whisk. With the mixer running on low, add the cream very slowly, pausing every 5-10 seconds to scrape down the bowl, until it is fully combined. Increase the speed to medium high and whisk until stiff peaks form, scraping down the bowl as necessary (at least several times), about 2-3 minutes total.

Assembly

• If your cakes domed in the oven, level the tops. (This gives you lots of sampler pieces.)
• To assemble the cake, place one layer of the carrot cake on a serving platter. Top with a generous 1 cup of the whipped cream frosting (or ⅓ of the frosting if you’re making a naked cake). Spread evenly over the surface, then top with the second layer of carrot cake. Top with a generous 1 cup of the whipped cream frosting (or ⅓ of the frosting if you’re making a naked cake).
• Cover with the remaining cake layer. Crumb coat the top and sides with a thin layer of frosting, then refrigerate for 10-15 minutes to "set". Finish frosting the top and sides (or just fully frost the top) with the remaining whipped cream frosting.
• Chill for 30 min to fully set the cake and frosting before trying to transport this cake! (Trust me....otherwise it will slide and you will be sad). If you aren't transporting this cake, it's still wise to chill before serving to help with meticulous slices. Because the frosting has a cream base, store any uneaten cake in the fridge, letting it come to room temperature before serving.