Claire Saffitz makes carrot and pecan cake from her cookbook, Dessert Person. Claire’s interpretation of a classic carrot cake makes a celebration out of any occasion. This version has lots of well toasted pecans and a brown butter cream cheese frosting that is not to be missed under any circumstances. Watch Claire as she demonstrates how to achieve even, light layers and then assemble them into a cake that’s equal parts, impressive, satisfying, and delicious. Remember, as Julia Child said: “A party without cake is just a meeting!”
#ClaireSaffitz #DessertPerson #CarrotCake
Special Equipment:
Stand mixer
Three 8-inch cake pans
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pecan or walnut pieces and/or halves (5.3 oz/ 150g)
Neutral oil for the pans
1 pound (454g) carrots (about 5 large), coarsely grated (about 3 cups)
1 cup buttermilk, (8.5 oz / 240g), at room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (11.4 oz /325g)
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder (0.28 oz/ 8g)
2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (0.21 oz / 6g)
1 teaspoon baking soda (0.21 oz / 6 g)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs (7 oz / 200g), at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar (5.3 oz / 150g)
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (5.3 oz / 150g)
1 cup neutral oil, such as vegetable or grapeseed (8 oz / 226g)
Classic Cream Cheese Frosting, Brown Butter Variation
Video Breakdown:
0:00 Start
0:07 Intro to Carrot and Pecan Cake
0:34 Show Intro / Animation
0:53 Carrot and Pecan Cake Recipe
1:53 Special Equipment / Ingredients
2:54 Toast Pecans
3:16 Mix The Wet Ingredients
6:27 Mix Dry Ingredient & Make Batter
11:46 Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
13:48 Felix Cameo
18:23 Frost The Cake
23:12 Taste/Wrap
Find Dessert Person Online: https://www.dessertperson.com
Claire Saffitz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/csaffitz/
Dessert Person Merchandise: https://www.dessertperson.com/buystuff
For Other Penguin Random House Books: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/
Dessert Person Cookbook
Photographer: Alex Lau
Food Stylist: Sue Li
Prop Stylist: Astrid Chastka
Video Series:
Producer/Director: Vincent Cross
Camera Operator: Calvin Robertson
Sound Engineer/Music: Michael Guggino
Editor: Brooke Shuman
Animation Credits:
Character Designer/Animator: Jack Sherry
Character Rigger: Johara Dutton
Background/Prop Designer: M. Cody Wiley
Background Illustrator: Jagriti Khirwar
21 Comments
Happy New Year!! What are you baking for the last day of 2020?
Why no goat? 🙁
I'm preparing to make this – I only have a Magimix, not stand mixer or hand mixer – Claire, do you think this is fine? I'm sure the Magimix will be fine producing the ribbon (batter) and I could hand mix the rest in?
Thank youuuuuuuu 🙂
Doesn't the fresh ginger over power everything else
Cause you havnt had carrot cake correctly. The frosting is made from butter and vinilla with a hint of cinnamon. Cream cheese was meant for the trash. Look up your history. Propaganda has sold us trash for yrs
Just wanted to say that I made this for a party yesterday and was told by several folks it's the best carrot cake they've ever had. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
😍
first time baking a cake and followed the instructions as best as I can but instead of pecans we only had walnuts. It was moist and not the overwhelming kind of cake and I used a whipped cream cheese frosting recipe. It was a hit with my family loved it will definitely try again. 🫶🏽
How much butter do you use to make the butter icing
Made this last week for my mom's birthday, we all loved it!.
Kept everything the same except I used piloncillo instead of brown sugar (which I think is near to if not the same thing) and as we are not fans of cream cheese, I made a greek yogurt frosting, which still provided tang and brightness complementing the absolut show stopper that is the cake itself. Delicious! Thank you so much for this recipe!
CLAIRE, PEEL FASTER!!!! 😂😂😂 How is picture that in my head! 😂😂
Made this for my husband's birthday and it turned out amazing! Thank you for sharing your recipe and showing us how to make it!
That is precisely the reason why I have a second fridge now. 🙂
Hey Claire I just want one cake I can cut in 2 how much ingrediebts do I need ? Thank you keep doing yr do girl.its you
The hardest thing I’ve ever tried to make before this was a TOASTED pb&j sand which (ik fancy right?), but I needed carrot cake, found this recipe and pulled it off without a problem. Great recipe great video ty Claire!
But where in the fridge hahaha
Can I just say, toasting the nuts is seriously a game changer – I'm toasting nuts for all my baking now and just shocked how much flavor it adds
Just tried and i think it was good for most parts but it could do with a bit less baking powder. Rather noticable taste at the levels given (14 grams combined is quite a lot…). Maybe 4+2 of powder + soda.
This recipe has RUINED me — and anyone I've baked this recipe for — for all other carrot cake. The sponge is delicious — light, nutty, warmly spiced. But that brown butter cream cheese frosting? That's some sort of sorcery. I usually make cupcakes (65 grams of batter per cupcake) so I can regulate my intake a bit. Thank you, Claire, for this transformational recipe.
Bravo… my adult daughter asked for a carrot cake for her 50 th birthday…
This year lands on Thanksgiving Day
Out of 15 other YT videos I picked yours …🎂🥳🎉🎂🥳🎂🎉🎉🥳
Thank you in advance… wish me luck❤
Oh my goodness!! As a newbie baker who gets intimidated by cake layers & techniques, when I read your recipe I knew I had to try this!! Buttermilk & brown butter ❤❤ with carrots, yum. Thank you for sharing as it was very tasty!!