Birthday Cakes

From Chocolate to Carrot

Do you know anyone who has a birthday this summer? It never hurts to have a couple of go-to birthday cake recipes. When I was growing up, birthday cakes meant chocolate cakes or one that at least had chocolate frosting.

Krista’s 4th Birthday with Chocolate Cake

Probably the first cake I ever made was a boxed yellow cake with chocolate frosting; I must have been about 10 years old. No photos survive this creation, but I remember using extra frosting on one side to balance out the fact that it was lopsided. For those who turn their noses up at boxed cake mixes or are just curious, this is a good read.

Years later, after discovering the Silver Palate cookbooks, I started making cakes from scratch. I must have made every cake recipe in the ‘white’ Silver Palate cookbook — you know, the one that the pages are all falling out and has numerous stains and turned-over corners.

But by far, the most requested birthday cake from that book (or any other) is the Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting. I have made it countless times. It has more moisture than most carrot cakes (probably from the puréed, not grated carrots). The balance of spices is just right. You taste them, but they don’t overpower the cake, and they are offset by the slight tang of the lemon juice in the cream cheese frosting.

The recipe’s slight flaw is also a bonus — it makes too much batter for two nine-inch cake pans. So, I always fill a few cupcake liners to bake alongside. Unfrosted, they make great breakfast muffins.

The cake, however, requires the cream-cheese frosting. You can decorate it (I’ve included my recipe at the bottom for Candied Carrot Strips) or leave it absolutely plain. Once many years ago my friend and I made a ‘Garden Cake’ inspired by Martha Stewart that was decorated with marzipan sculpted vegetables. Unfortunately the one photo that survives is extremely low resolution and taken with my first (Apple!) digital camera.

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Here is the classic Carrot Cake recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook, just slightly modified with my notes. Make it for yourself or as a delicious birthday present for someone you love.

Carrot Cake

Makes 10-12 servings, plus some cupcakes/muffins

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 3 cups granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon baking soda

• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

• 1 1/2 cups grapeseed or avocado oil

• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped

• 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

• 1 1/3 cups pureed cooked carrots

• 1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

• Cream-Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

• Candied Carrot Strips, optional (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two 9-inch layer cake pans lined with parchment paper.

2. Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple. I use a Kitchen Aid stand mixer to mix all of this.

3. Pour batter into the prepared pans. (You will have extra batter—put it in a muffin tin for cupcakes.) Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until edges have pulled away from sides and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You can add foil loosely over the top, if the cake is browning too much before the center is cooked.

4. Cool on a cake rack for 3 hours. Frost with the cream-cheese frosting. Add candied carrot strips to top or around the edge of the platter, if desired.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Frosting for a 2-layer cake

• 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Cream together cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl.

2. Slowly sift in the powdered sugar a little at a time and continue beating until fully incorporated. The mixture should be free of lumps.

3. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice. 

Optional Candied Carrot Strips

• 2 carrots, peeled

• 1 cup water

• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Peel long, 1/2-inch wide strips from the carrots using a very sharp vegetable peeler.

2. Put the strips in a heavy saucepan with the water and sugar and cook until the carrots are tender and glazed.

3. Let cool completely in the syrup before garnishing the cake.

One of my carrot cakes, made a few years ago for a friend’s birthday.

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Krista Harris