Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (Cook's Illustrated)

This cake is a four-layered rectangular cake that gets coated in chopped nuts. Although it was a bit of a project to make, it was totally worth the effort. The cake was light and fluffy and perfectly moist. It gets a generous amount of dried currants added to the batter, lending it a nice tart flavour and chewy texture. Because the cake is baked in a sheet pan, it cooks quickly and cutting it into four equal pieces is surprisingly easy. The frosting was also delicious and tasted like a classic, straightforward cream cheese frosting. (Which is always good.)

Cake:
1¾ cups (8¾ oz) all-purpose flour, unbleached
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¾ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. ground cloves
1¼ cups (8¾ oz) Erythritol Gold
¾ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2⅔ cups carrots, shredded (about 4 carrots)
⅔ cups dried currants

Cream Cheese Frosting:
16 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3 cups (12 oz) Monk Fruit Sweetener with Erythritol (Powdered)
⅓ cup buttermilk powder
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp. sea salt
12 oz cream cheese, chilled and cut into 12 equal pieces
2 cups (8 oz) pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Shred the carrots on the large holes of a box grater or in a food processor fitted with the shredding disk. Do not substitute liquid buttermilk for the buttermilk powder. To ensure the proper spreading consistency for the frosting, use cold cream cheese. If your baked cake is of an uneven thickness, adjust the orientation of the layers as they are stacked to produce a level cake. Assembling this cake on a cardboard cake round trimmed to a 6x8" rectangle makes it easy to press the pecans onto the sides of the frosted cake.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4). Grease 18x13" rimmed baking sheet, line with parchment paper and grease parchment.

For the Cake:
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves together in large bowl.

Whisk sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla together until mixture is smooth. Stir in carrots and currants. Add flour mixture and fold with rubber spatula until mixture is just combined.

Transfer batter to prepared baking sheet and smooth surface with offset spatula. Bake until center of cake is firm to touch, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack (do not remove parchment) and then reinvert onto second wire rack. Cool cake completely, about 30 minutes.

For the Frosting:
Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, sugar, buttermilk powder, vanilla and salt on low speed until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Increase speed to medium-low; add cream cheese, 1 piece at a time; mix until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Assembly:
Transfer cooled cake to cutting board, parchment side down. Using sharp chef's knife, cut cake and parchment in half crosswise and then lengthwise to make 4 equal rectangles, about 6x8" each.

Place 6x8" cardboard rectangle on cake turntable or plate. Place 1 cake rectangle, parchment side up, on cardboard and carefully remove parchment. Using offset spatula, spread ⅔ cup frosting evenly over cake layer. Repeat with two more layers of cake, frosting each layer with ⅔ cup frosting and pressing gently on each layer to level. Place last rectangle of cake on top and frost top of cake with 1 cup frosting. Use remaining frosting to coat sides of cake. (It's fine if some crumbs show through frosting on sides, but if you go back to smooth top of cake, be sure that spatula is free of crumbs.)

Hold cake with 1 hand and gently press chopped pecans onto sides with other hand. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Makes 10 servings.

Make-Ahead: The cake may be refrigerated for up to 24 hours before serving.