![Carrot Cake](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/11/01/dining/Carrot-Cake-textless/Carrot-Cake-textless-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Carrot Cake
Dorie Greenspan
8606 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
8,606
1 hour 30 minutes, plus at least 15 minutes' refrigeration
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Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform cake pan with parchment paper.
For the cake: Stir butter into chocolate, reheating mixture to incorporate butter if needed, and let cool. In a medium bowl, whisk 4 egg whites until foamy. Gradually add ½ cup sugar and whisk until whites hold their shape but are not too stiff. Reserve.
In a large bowl, whisk 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with ⅓ cup of sugar and vanilla until combined. Stir in chocolate to mix.
In three additions, fold whites into chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cake rises, cracks and center is no longer wobbly.
Cool cake on a wire rack; middle will sink and the sides will crack. Carefully remove cake from pan and place it on serving plate.
For icing, whip cream with vanilla until it is firm but not stiff. Fold in melted chocolate. Fill top of cake with icing, easing it out gently toward edges. Arrange Easter eggs on top.
I made this last weekend and, like one reviewer, ended up with speckled frosting, not acceptable for my Gourmet group dinner. I tried again, remembering something from the M. Bittman book on baking -- before folding to lighten the heavier component with the lighter component. So I folded some whipped cream into the warm melted chocolate before folding in the rest; result = no speckles! Thank you, Mark Bittman! I may become something of a baker after all!
The instructions for the topping do not work- you need to chop up the chocolate into small pieces, put them in a bowl. Then bring the cream to a gentle boil, pour over the chocolate and let stand for a minute. Stir until blended, refrigerate ( overnight is best) then whip it up! This way the chocolate melts, the other way it just hardens in streaks when added to the whipped cream.
This my go to Easter cake, but it can be an anything cake... just change the eggs to cocoa almonds , chocolate shards or just about any thing. Leave the whipped cream plain and vanilla flavored too, and add sprinkles or edible flowers. Everyone is surprised and delighted by this cake.
Line your round pan with parchment paper cut to fit. When cake is out of oven, let it cool for 10 min. Run a sharp knife around rim. When cake is totally cooled, invert onto a round cake board or plate, peel off parchment, and invert again onto another cake board or plate to go right side up. You don't need a spring form pan. I do this with cheesecake too.
For those of you who have no patience (me), melt the chocolate, let it cool for 10 mins, combine with am additional 1/4 cup heavy cream, like fully combine. It will look like deluxe chocolate pudding when you're done. Then fold that mix together with the whip per instructions. No wait. No refrigeration. No hassle. Just nice, smooth, chocolatey whip. So good. Thank you Ms Lawson :)
Frosting terrible! Cake delicious.
Cooled chocolate would not mix with whipped cream.
Made a second batch with my standby recipe for whipped cream frosting. One cup of heavy cream, 3 Tbls unsweetened cocoa and 1/3 cup of sugar. Excellent.
If you are making this ahead, do you put it in the fridge? Also, is the topping better made just before serving? And, sadly, I should mention that I neglected to spray the sides with baking spray so now it's sticking. Wish there had been some mention of this in the recipe.
But it does smell delicious!
This is the recipe that Nigella developed for The Times back in 2003 for this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/dining/at-my-table-easter-lunch-withou... We haven't changed it, but it's possible Nigella made some changes for the version on her website. I think our version probably works best with a milder, sweeter chocolate i.e. 60% or <.
others struggled with the chocolate and whipped cream, but I let the chocolate cool a bit first and it mixed with the cream easily- excellent.
I made this for my husband's birthday and added a splash of bourbon instead of vanilla to the whipped cream. I also used raspberries instead of candy eggs and it was really good! The cake was mousse-like and the raspberries actually helped cut the richness. Definitely a re-make!
Do you think these would work as cupcakes aka many small nests instead of one large?
Made this for Easter dinner dessert. Everyone loved it. Light yet rich chocolate flavor. I made the cake a day ahead and left it out and in the pan - no problem. I let the melted chocolate cool a bit before adding to the whipped heavy cream. The two mixed beautifully. My finished cake looked exactly like the picture. I will make this again.
Made this the day before Easter, refrigerated overnight. It was a hit. Next time I might make the cake ahead, but make the topping and decorate the day of--if you use Cadbury Mini Eggs, as pictured in the recipe photo, they lose all color when refrigerated overnight. I, too, had the "speckled topping" problem, despite following the Bittman tip listed below. But because this is a ~rustic~ cake, the inconsistency in color didn't really matter or make it any less tasty. A keeper.
I made this for Easter. It was beautiful and delicious! I made the cake a day ahead. Baked at 325 in convection oven. Followed suggestion to add 1/4 cup cream to cooled melted chocolate and THEN add that to the whipped cream. I got the dreaded speckles at first but as I continued to fold, they all blended in so my cake looked just like the photo. Thanks for a great recipe!
Wonderful! Luscious chocolate cake topped with chocolate mousse. To avoid problems other people had, take your time and let things cool. Let the melted chocolate cool before stirring it into the batter. Let the other batch of melted chocolate cool before folding it into the whipped cream. Let the cake completely cool before topping it with the whipped cream. This will become my new signature dessert.
This recipe is really easy, just time consuming and well worth it. The Easter eggs didn't work for me, but the kids loved them. Could be I'm a curmudgeon. A fun things for kids to do is help with chopping up the chocolate. Hammer, meet chocolate. Kitchen towel underneath. You judge whether the floor can take it. Mine can! You can always send them outside.
I neglected to run a knife along the edge of the pan before removing the cake. Big mistake.
Excellent recipe-follow some of the suggestions for the whipped chocolate cream topping!
Mine turned out a little dry and I didn't overcook it. Maybe I didn't beat the egg whites enough . And the topping doesn't call for any sugar. I added some confectionary sugar and was pleased.
Unfortunately, the other cooks’ reviews about there being something wrong with the frosting is correct. I don’t know if it may be the difference between the milkfat in UK cream vs US cream, or something else, but it isn’t right. The cake is fine, not brilliant, but fine; the frosting is positively odd in that it doesn’t blend correctly and really lacks flavor.
I made this for the first time for an Easter lunch party. It was a huge success. As Nigella promised, it was easy to make and had just the right balance of sweetness and richness, without being too much. I feared the topping would be cloyingly sweet but it was perfect. I could not find any candy eggs, so it went without that touch of color, but no one missed them. We had fresh strawberries as an accompaniment. The melted chocolate for topping was room temp when mixed and came together well.
just to add, mixing the topping took more effort and time than I had thought it might, and I was afraid I might lose the air of the whip by overmixing, but I added a bit of the whipped cream to the room temp melted chocolate to temper it, and then just kept folding and folding until all the streaks were absorbed.. it was lovely and I definately would not leave it off.
I had similar issues with the icing. The cake came out perfect. I would like better directions to make the icing as smooth and creamy as possible.Mar
This cake is delicious, but the whipped cream filling (frosting? layer?) did a number on my lactose-intolerant gut, despite taking a lactase pill. Fellow sufferers beware! (By the way, followed the tip to add some cream to the cooled melted chocolate, and my whipped cream turned out fine. Just too lactose-y :-)
i wonder if people having trouble with the frosting were melting chips/morsels instead of bars? the recipe doesn’t specify this but chocolate chips have an anti coagulation ingredient which makes them a poor choice for melting. i used bars, let it mostly cool, and had no trouble with folding into the cream!
I made this. Delicious. I did not have super fine sugar and it turned out great. I followed the tip to temper the chocolate with some cream prior to adding to the whipped cream for the topping. Turned out perfect!
I make this every year at Easter! Phenomenal.
This recipe got rave reviews from the guests at our annual Easter gathering. I had no problem with blending the ingredients as others have reported. I used Lindt mini eggs, and they looked great topping off the cake.
I have made many flourless chocolate cakes. This is among the best. Used Lindt Excellence I used Dorie Greenspan’s technique for chocolate whipped cream. You heat cream to a simmer, pour it over chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate overnight, whip just before serving. To make it look a little more like a nest, I grated chocolate over the whipped cream.
I followed directions for the cake—delicious—and instead of chocolate frosting, I topped it with whipped cream (with a very little sugar and vanilla) and raspberries. People had seconds. No leftovers. Win!
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