Ultimate Iced Carrot Cake

Back in the early 1970s, a restaurant renaissance took place in Philadelphia that was recognized nationwide. One of the earliest gurus of this movement was Steve Poses, who first opened the landmark “Frog” restaurant, and then opened a restaurant called “The Commissary” which served some of the best food I had ever tasted, cafeteria-style, in a quirky building at 16th and Spruce Streets. In the late seventies, I was a new mother working downtown as a part-time clerk for the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania and, inspired by these new chefs who had started their businesses on a shoestring, I began my own catering business with my sister, a business we proudly ran for eleven years until our liability insurance and payments to equipment rental companies became way too expensive. Whenever I worked for the court, one of the perks was being able to eat my lunches at The Commissary. Another was spending my lunch hour wandering around town with a large vanilla ice cream cone hand-scooped at Bassett’s Ice Cream in Reading Terminal Market. No other vanilla ice cream experience has ever even come close!

This recipe is based on The Frog Commissary Cookbook recipe, but we have tweaked it with the addition of crushed pineapple. Also, one batch of the filling recipe can be used to fill 2 to 3 cakes. If you slather it all, as in the original recipe, between the layers of one cake, be prepared to visit your dentist very soon. It keeps for a very long time in the refrigerator, but if you don’t plan to bake two cakes and freeze one for later, I would suggest halving the recipe for the filling.

Ultimate Iced Carrot Cake

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1-1/4 cups Crisco Pure Vegetable Oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups minus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 4 cups peeled and grated carrots (approximately 1 lb.) (I use the grating disc on the food processor.)
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple
• Butter Pecan Filling
• Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Trace the bottom of a 10-inch tube pan onto a piece of waxed paper or parchment and cut out. Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray and fit the cut out into the bottom. Flip the paper over and smooth out.

In a large bowl, whisk together oil and sugar. In another bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift half the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and blend. Alternately sift in the remaining dry ingredients with eggs. Gently stir in carrots, pecans, raisins, and pineapple.

Bake in center of a standard oven for 70 minutes. Turn out of pan while slightly warm and remove waxed paper. Slice into three layers. Can be frozen. The cake is easier to slice into three layers if frozen first and then partially defrosted before slicing. Fill between layers with Butter Pecan Filling and Ice with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Butter Pecan Filling
(Halve recipe for one cake)

• 2 cups sugar
• 6 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1-1/2 cups chopped pecans
• 1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

In a cold, heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour and salt. Over medium heat, gradually stir in cream. When the mixture is smooth, cut butter into large pats and stir in. Lower heat and, stirring very frequently, let mixture simmer 20 to 30 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from heat and add nuts and vanilla. Cool in refrigerator. Use cold to spread on carrot cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. softened, unsalted butter
• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1 lb. confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Cream butter. Add cheese, blending thoroughly. Sift in confectioner’s sugar and stir in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Chill a bit if it becomes too soft to spread, or melts too much in a pastry bag from the heat of your hand.

To Assemble: Spread filling between layers of cake. Cover with frosting. Reserve some frosting to decorate as desired with pastry bag. Chill to set frosting.