Oklahoma Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Caramelized White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream
Spicy carrot cake meets salty, caramel-y buttercream. This is a cupcake for adults.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Piping Bag with Round Plain Tip
- Kitchen Scale (optional but HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR ALL YOUR BAKING!)
Ingredients
Carrot Cake:
- 2 ⅓ cups spooned and leveled self-rising flour (10.2 oz/291 g)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp orange zest, finely grated
- 3 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 cups light or dark brown sugar, packed (15.4 oz/437 g)
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 3 cups carrots, peeled and finely grated (about 6 carrots/11.6 oz/329 g)
Brown Butter Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream
- 1/2 lb unsalted butter (1 cup or 2 sticks)
- 1 lb cream cheese, full fat (2 pkgs, strong preference for Philadelphia brand)
- 1 lb white chocolate, fine quality (I like Valrhona or Callebaut)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Caramelized White Chocolate
- I don't think I can do better than the venerable Dave Lebovitz when it comes to explaining how to caramelize white chocolate so I am simply going to send you to his recipe here: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/caramelized-white-chocolate/ You'll see that he uses 12 oz instead of 16 oz chocolate but this doesn't matter. Just follow the directions and expect the process to take a bit longer.
- My advice is remember to use a high quality chocolate with a high cocoa butter content. Use a lower cocoa butter content and you run the risk of crumbly, chalky chocolate, as David mentions. Also, make sure to stir it every 10 minutes and keep the oven temperature to 250°F--this isn't a process to speed up! Just start this process first and continue to prepare your other ingredients in between stirring sessions. Lastly, if it's a bit lumpy and you need to smooth it out with the immersion blender or hand mixer, do it while the chocolate is still warm. It's much easier.
- Once the chocolate is caramelized and smooth, allow it to cool, covered, on the counter, while you work on the cupcakes. You want it to still be liquid for the buttercream but not too warm or it will melt the cream cheese and butter.
Make the Brown Butter
- In a small saucepan, melt the 1/2 lb of butter over medium heat. The butter will sputter and foam. Keep a close eye on it. As it begins to brown, carefully stir it with a wood spoon to scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When the butter is a golden brown, remove it from heat. It will continue to cook and become a darker brown. Scrape the pan a few more times to make sure the brown bits don't stick to the bottom. Let the butter cool to room temperature, then scrape it into a plastic container, cover, and put in the fridge. (You will use this for your buttercream later.)
Make the Cupcakes
- Pull the cream cheese out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature while you work.
- Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F°.
- Line (2) standard size 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake wrappers.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, and orange zest until well combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, and brown sugar. Stir in the oil, vanilla, and orange juice. Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg mixture in a little at a time by hand, taking care not to mix too much--you do not want to develop the gluten in the flour as that will make a tough cake. Fold in the carrots.
- Distribute the cake batter evenly among the 24 muffin cups. I recommend using a 1/4 cup measure or an equivalent ice cream scoop for each cup and then going back with a spoon to add more, if needed.
- Bake the cupcakes, one tin at a time, for 15-20 minutes, then check. You want a cake that is light golden and springs back to the touch. A toothpick inserted should come out with a a few crumbs struck to it. Continue baking for 2 minute intervals until they're done. Allow them to cool on a rack before removing from the muffin tin.
Make the Buttercream
- While the cupcakes are baking, scrape the room temperature cream cheese into the bowl of your stand mixer and use the paddle attachment to slowly beat the cheese until it's completely smooth. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. This shouldn't take more than 5 minutes with room temperature cream cheese. While you're doing this, pull your brown butter out of the fridge so it can warm up a bit. You want it to remain firm but not be super cold or it will be hard to incorporate into the buttercream.
- Make sure your caramelized white chocolate is still liquid. If it isn't, put it in the microwave and nuke for 10 second intervals, stirring each time, just until it's completely melted.
- With the mixer on low, slowly drizzle the chocolate into the cream cheese. Once it's all in, turn off the mixer, scrape down the bowl, and then turn the mixer to medium and whip until creamy and homogenous.
- With the mixer on low again, begin adding the brown butter, spoonful by spoonful. Make sure to add all those yummy brown bits! (Melted and re-solidified butter has a weird texture, don't be concerned, it's main use is for flavor at this point, not creaminess. The cream cheese will supply all the creaminess that you need.)
- Once the mixture is fluffy and well incorporated, add your vanilla. You may want to add a pinch of salt as well, totally up to you!
- This is a lovely buttercream for piping on cupcakes, it's so smooth and creamy and creates perfect mounds of frosting. I like to use a plain tip to keep the cupcakes simple and rustic but a star tip would work just as well.
- I also added some candied carrot slices for color. These are very simple to make: Heat 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and the resulting syrup is simmering. Add 1/4 cup of thinly sliced carrot slices to the syrup and allow them to simmer for 30 minutes. Drain the slices and dry in one layer on a sheet pan. You'll notice the edges of the carrots will start to ruffle as they dry, and resemble little flowers. Save the leftover carrot syrup to sweeten your next cocktail!
Notes
Carrot cake feels American to me because it’s rustic and simple to put together. It’s a dense cake loaded with spices and shredded carrots that make it extra moist. Some like raisins and chopped pecans or walnuts in their carrot cake but I do not. I reject raisins in every context. Can’t explain it. Every few years I try again and…nope. And while I love nuts in cookies I feel they interrupt the texture of cake instead of enhancing it. One woman’s opinion.
The spiciness and heartiness of carrot cake makes it a perfect foil for a thick cream cheese buttercream, which may be America’s unofficial favorite frosting? In this case, I tweaked the classic cream cheese with brown butter and caramelized white chocolate to create an umami icing that you’ll want to eat by the spoonful. I’m not sure kids would be into this frosting, it’s not very sweet, but so far, adults seem to love it!