Carrot Cake with Buttermilk Glaze

Carrot Cake with Buttermilk Glaze – delicious carrot cake with pineapple, coconut, and nuts! It’s drizzled with a buttermilk glaze and topped with cream cheese frosting! 

Carrot Cake with Buttermilk Glaze - delicious carrot cake with pineapple, coconut, and nuts! It's drizzled with a buttermilk glaze and topped with cream cheese frosting!

I promise there’s a reason this looks like the biggest hot mess of a carrot cake ever.

And that reason is because it’s the world’s best carrot cake.

You’ve got your typical carrot cake recipe with lots of carrots, coconut, pineapple, nuts and then when you pull it out of the oven, you drizzle a buttermilk glaze over it and it all seeps in and makes the cake extra delicious.

And then after it cools you cover it in cream cheese frosting which makes it extra, extra delicious.

Like I said, best carrot cake ever.

So I guess it’s officially carrot cake season. Which is strange because I think of the months January – December when I think of carrot cake. I don’t know, spicy carrot cakes just feel like winter to me.

But officially, carrot cake season is the couple weeks before Easter. Because, you know, Easter Bunny and all that.

Click for the full recipe

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Caramelized Carrot Risotto

I am loving the risotto recipes right now! The last one I made really got me in a mood to try new flavors in risotto so I was pretty excited to find this carrot recipe.

Not gonna lie, I was kind of hesitant because carrots? In risotto? Exactly. But I have to say, they became so sweet when caramelized and somehow just worked perfectly with the Parmesan. Everyone in the family, including the kids (!!) loved this one and sadly for me, there were zero leftovers. I think I could’ve eaten this for a week straight without getting sick of it.

Forget everything you’ve heard about how difficult it is to make risotto – you absolutely must give this one a try! As long as you’re prepared to hover over the stove for about 30 minutes, you’ll be fine!

Print
Carrot Risotto
Total Time
1 hr
 
Servings: 6 - 8 servings as side dish
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil divided
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
  • 6 medium carrots peeled and chopped as finely and evenly as possible (about 3 cups)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/3 cup minced onion
  • 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1/4 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese plus 1/2 cup for garnish
  • 1 teaspoon roughly chopped fresh thyme
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in a medium heavy-bottomed pot; add carrots and stir with a wooden spoon until well coated. Add 1/2 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the sugar; cover and cook 5 minutes, or until tender. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until water evaporates and carrots are just starting to brown, a few minutes more. Reserve half of the carrots. In a blender, purée other half with 3/4 cup hot water.
  2. Bring chicken broth to a simmer and keep at a simmer, covered, over low heat.
  3. Heat remaining oil and butter over medium heat in same (unwashed) pot used for carrots. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add rice, stirring with a wooden spoon to coat rice with oil, 1 minute. Add wine and cook, stirring, until wine evaporates. Add carrot purée and cook, stirring, until mixture no longer looks soupy.
  4. Add 1/2 cup hot broth, stirring often, until rice absorbs most of the liquid. Repeat process, adding 1/2 cup broth at a time and stirring often till each addition is absorbed before adding the next, until rice is al dente (about 20 minutes).
  5. Fold in reserved carrots 1/4 cup Parmesan, and the thyme. Add up to 1 cup broth (1/4 cup at a time) to loosen the risotto. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.
  6. Sprinkle each bowl of risotto with some of remaining 1/2 cup parmesan; serve immediately


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Carrot Cake

6055855700 e1c8647d39 Carrot Cake

A few weeks back I made the mistake of strolling through our local grocery store’s bakery. I don’t do it often but sometimes I needsomething and I just don’t feel like baking. That day I needed carrot cake. So I bought these mini carrot cake cupcakes and I was so excited the whole drive home. You know how the story ends. The cake was dry and gross and the “cream cheese” frosting was most definitely not made of cream cheese.

I finally got around to making myself a real carrot cake a couple of days ago and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it turned out. I’m kind of a carrot cake purist – only carrots and nuts please – so I was worried about the pineapple and coconut in this recipe but I seriously love both additions. The cake was so moist and seemed to get better after sitting in the fridge overnight.

Print
Carrot Cake
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
 
Ingredients
For the cake:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups grated carrot
  • 1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
  • 1 cup sweetened coconut
  • 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
For the cream cheese frosting:
  • 3/4 cup butter softened
  • 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
  • 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Line 2 (9-inch) round cakepans with wax paper; lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.
  2. Stir together first 3 ingredients.
  3. Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in carrot and next 3 ingredients. Pour batter into prepared cakepans.
  4. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.
  5. To make the frosting: Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth.
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