Carrot Pineapple Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

• servings: 8 slices

Ingredients

For the cake

Cooking spray (my preference is olive oil spray, but use whatever you have

1½ cups [188 g] all-purpose flour

1 cup [110 g] almond flour

1 cup [200 g] granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

One 8-ounce [227 g] can crushed pineapple in pineapple juice

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup [240 ml] canola oil (or other neutral oil such as vegetable)

½ pound [227 g] carrots, peeled and coarsely grated (about 3 medium carrots, or 2 loosely packed cups grated carrots)

For the frosting

1½ cups [12 ounces, aka

340 g] cream cheese, at room temperature

¼ cup [56 g] sour cream

¼ cup [60 ml] maple syrup

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

First, make the cake Preheat your oven to 350°F [175°C]. Spray two 8-inch [20-cm] cake pans with cooking spray and set them aside.

Place the flours in a medium bowl with the sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger and whisk well to combine. Give it a few extra whisks just to guarantee everything is combined evenly. Add the crushed pineapple along with its juice, the eggs, and the oil and stir well to combine. Stir in the carrots. Divide the batter between the 2 cake pans and use a spoon to spread the tops of each to make sure they're nice and even.

Bake the cakes until firm to the touch and a toothpick tests clean, about 40 minutes. If the cakes aren't on the same rack in the oven, rotate them halfway through baking.

Let the cakes cool completely to room temperature, preferably on a wire rack to speed up cooling, before frosting.

To make the frosting: place the cream cheese, sour cream, maple syrup, and salt in a large bowl. Use an electric handheld mixer (or use an electric stand mixer or just a whisk and a lot of elbow grease) to mix everything together until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. It's best to do this while the cakes are in the oven and then refrigerate the frosting while the cakes bake and then cool. This gives the frosting a chance to get a bit firmer. It's totally fine if you do it last minute, though.

Remove each cake from its pan. Place one cake on a serving platter or cake stand (whatever you will serve it on) and spread half of the frosting evenly over it. Place the second cake on top and coat the sides and top of the cake with the remaining frosting (a small offset spatula is the best tool for the job, but a dinner knife works well, too). Don't worry about making this too perfect. Rustic is real and real is beautiful (put that in a skincare ad!).

Cut into wedges and serve at room temperature. Leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (bring the cake back to room temperature before serving).

Notes

From: ‘Simply Julia’ by Julia Turshen