Moist Carrot Cake

I was in the mood to make a from scratch carrot cake for Easter dinner. So I perused my cook books and came up with a version of cake based on a Barefoot Contessa carrot cake recipe and a Gourmet Magazine carrot cake recipe. I don't like raisins or dried fruit in carrot cake, so naturally it was a no brainer to leave that out. This is loaded with fresh grated carrots, as well as a bite of lemon juice and buttermilk to give it a nice tang. I omitted the heavy cream and the sour cream to lighten this up. Lots of chopped nuts are in the batter, and I plan on making a coconut cream cheese frosting when I put this together on one of my cake plates.



Lots of fresh grated carrots.



Using my Kitchen Aid to mix it all up.



Getting ready to bake it off.

Dan's Carrot Cake

2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 extra-large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
3 cups grated carrots
Zest & juice of one lemon
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Beat the sugar, oil, lemon juice & zest, buttermilk and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add the grated carrots and nuts to the remaining flour, mix well, and add to the batter. Mix until just combined.

Divide batter among prepared cake pans. I typically use three 6" cake pans. Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 350°F and cook for a further 35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Frost with your favorite cream cheese or buttercream frosting.