Alison Roman’s Carrot Cake for #Halloween @LucyBurdette

 

LUCY BURDETTE: Carrot cake is never my first choice of cake flavor, that would be yellow cake with mocha or chocolate or whipped cream icing, followed by chocolate cake. However, this carrot cake recipe from Alison Roman appealed to me, perhaps because of all the dates? I decided to try it for a small dinner party with a Halloween theme. I certainly didn’t skip the cream cheese icing, but a whole block seemed like a lot for a one-layer cake so I cut it by 2/3. And I added a little vanilla to the frosting.

Ingredients for the cake:

Melted butter for the pan

11⁄4 cups all-purpose flour

11⁄2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon ground turmeric

3 large eggs

3⁄4 cup light brown sugar

2⁄3 cup sour cream 

1 pound carrots, peeled and grated

10–12 Medjool dates (8 ounces), pitted and chopped

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1⁄4 cup vegetable or olive oil

For the frosting:

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

1⁄3 cup powdered sugar 

Splash of vanilla

Candy corn to decorate

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan with a bit of melted butter, line with round of parchment paper and grease that with melted butter, too. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and turmeric.

In a larger bowl, whisk the eggs, brown sugar, and sour cream together until well blended. Add the shredded carrots and chopped dates and mix until blended. Dump the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until combined. Add the melted butter and the olive oil and carefully mix that in. 

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake until the top is puffed and golden and the sides pull away from the pan, about 40 minutes.

Mix the softened cream cheese with the powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla and stir until smooth. Frost the top of the cake, decorate for Halloween, and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.

Lucy Burdette writes the USA Today Bestselling food critic mystery series! You can find them wherever books are sold...

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