How can I make carrot cake more fruity and fresh?
I am planning to create a carrot cake that should be a bit different from what people usually think of when they think of carrot cake.
Please note: This is not a recipe request! My carrot cake recipe consists of the usual stuff cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts...and of course carrots. The frosting is classically cream cheese. The purpose of this question is more to ask for classic flavor combinations or well knows flavor combinations. I want to be creative, but not too bold. Basically I just want to add different textures and bit of a fruity and fresh flavor to it, so:
- What do you think about a layer of raspberry gel inside the cake?
- What do you think about a layer of orange gel inside the cake, maybe with a bit of ginger?
- What do you think about a passionfruit layer? Maybe together with the orange?
- Do you think a bit of lemon and basil or mint in the frosting could be used to create a refreshing aftertaste?
Best Answer
Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page has a large section on food pairings. For carrots they mention orange, ginger, lemon, basil and mint. I think any of these could work well, if done right. My suggestion would be first to use really good, flavorful carrots—preferably from a farmer's market. Second, I would tone down or even leave out some of the usual carrot cake spices so that you don't cover up the carrot flavor or the subtle flavors of your possible additions. Maybe fresh or candied ginger in the cake itself would be good. Orange or lemon curd and/or zest would work particulary well in offsetting the cream cheese icing. I'm thinking basil and mint might be better saved for another dessert.
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How do you intensify carrot flavor?
Sweeten carrots. Carrots go well with orange, either for savory or sweet dishes. They help to increase the sweetness in a pleasant way. Other citrus, such as lemon, can enhance the carrot flavors too. Add a little brown sugar to carrots to bring out the sweetness in carrots.What Flavours go well with carrot cake?
Sweet fruits, such as pineapple and raisins, work well with carrot cake; they're even added to the batter fairly frequently. Why not consider incorporating them into a filling or frosting, too? Nutty flavors work well with the spicy sweetness of carrot cake.Why does carrot cake not taste like carrots?
It's moist! Get used to it! The more you think about carrot cake, the less it makes sense. Like the name implies, it contains carrots, yet is not \u201ccarrot-y\u201d\u2014their subtle flavor is overpowered by the high caramel of brown sugar, the warm embrace of cinnamon and nutmeg and clove.What causes a carrot cake to be dry?
The ratio of wet to dry ingredients determines a cake's moisture level. If there's simply too much flour and not enough butter, a cake will taste dry. On the other hand, if there's too much milk and not enough flour, a cake will taste too wet.Incredibly Moist Carrot Cake Recipe - Homemade Carrot Cake
More answers regarding how can I make carrot cake more fruity and fresh?
Answer 2
Orange is an amazing flavor but I also really like maple in the frosting
Answer 3
I would make the standard cream cheese frosting with finely grated orange rind sprinkled on top and the juice from that orange in the frosting. Yummm.
Answer 4
Pineapple, ( tinned crushed pineapple works best) the pineapple works great and helps kept it moist as well as adding a nice flavour.
Orange and ginger are already a classic combination in a carrot cake so that would work well.
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