Amaranth Carrot Cake

A perfect spring afternoon is a slice of carrot cake and a double cappuccino. In its current sugary, cream cheese-laden incarnation, the healthiest thing about carrot cake is its name. In fact, it would be more accurate to call it “Sweet cream cheese and spiced carrot-pecan layer cake”. Honestly, the cake seems like an afterthought as there’s usually more icing than cake. I wanted to create a carrot cake recipe that tasted like fresh carrots. No walnuts, no pecans, no pineapple, no raisins, no coconut. Just carrots.

My original recipe had crushed pineapple that made for a very moist carrot cake but the real secret to moist carrot is an obvious one: lots of freshly grated carrots. I also used the carrot tops which added a fresh, grassy note and reinforced the carrot flavor. I like the flavor of carrots and nuts but most nuts are just too overwhelming, both in taste and texture. Amaranth flour tastes sweet, nutty, and malty in small amounts so I swapped 25% of the wheat flour with amaranth flour. I still haven’t figured out why, but this cake tastes better the day after it’s baked. (In fact, whenever I baked and served this cake on the same day, people complained that it didn’t taste as good.)

For all of my purist intentions, I will concede that carrot cake is not carrot cake without the cream cheese icing. So, I kept the traditional buttercream icing but cut the 10x sugar by half so the creamy tang of the cream cheese could complement, and not drown out, the flavor of this lightly spiced, minimalist carrot cake.

Amaranth Carrot Cake

1 lb. 12 oz. granulated sugar
12 eggs
2 grams cinnamon, ground
1 gram nutmeg, freshly grated
.2 oz. salt
1 lb. 6 oz. (light) olive oil
1 lb. flour, all-purpose
8 oz. flour, amaranth
.4 oz. baking powder
.3 oz. baking soda
2 lb. carrot, grated
2 oz. carrot tops, chopped

Whip eggs, sugar, spices and salt on high speed until light and fluffy. With the mixer still running, drizzle in olive oil. Sift flours, baking soda, and baking powder. Add flours to egg-oil mixture and blend on low speed just until the flours are mixed in. Add the grated carrots and carrot tops and mix just until blended. Portion into prepared bans and bake at 350F. The cake is done when the crumb springs back when pressed. Half sheets and cupcakes will bake for 15 minutes. Thick layer cakes will bake longer (15 minutes per inch) so lower the oven temperature to 325F.

Cream Cheese Buttercream
4.5 oz. unsalted butter, softened
2 lb. 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
13.5 oz. confectioner’s sugar, 10x
3 oz. lemon juice.
Blend cream cheese and butter until smooth and evenly mixed. Add 10x sugar and lemon juice and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.