CNY Blessings Carrot Cake
A beautiful Chinese New Year (CNY) Blessings Carrot Cake to welcome Lunar New Year 2019! Delicious, Festive and a Feast for the Eyes signifying 福, all blessings and good tidings for the year ahead!
Servings: 2 x 6 inch round pans
Ingredients
***For CNY Blessings Carrot Cake (please double the CAKE and FROSTING recipe below for 2 x 8 inch rounds serving)
CAKE
Dry ingredients
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Wet ingredients
- 150 ml oil
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups grated peeled carrots (~ 2 medium carrots)
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
FROSTING
- 250 g cream cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 3-4 tbsp icing sugar
DECORATIONS
- Melted dark chocolate (using 1/2 cup dark chips & 2 tbsp of heavy cream)
- Melted white chocolate (using 1/2 cup white chips & 2 tbsp of heavy cream)
- 21 cm metal straw (inserted with a ~ 6cm bendable plastic straw)
- Ferrero chocolate collection (I used ~50 pieces)
- Decorative gold coins (optional)
- Big velvet “Blessings” Red Packet
Instructions
CAKE
- Heat the oven to 175C. Line the two round cake pans with parchment paper and lightly grease the sides.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients until well blended. In a separate bowl, add the wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Switch to a large rubber spatula and mix in the dry ingredients in 2-3 parts. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and make sure it is well mixed. Stir in the shredded carrots and nuts.
- Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans. Bake until the tops of the cake layers are springy when touched and when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean ～ 35 to 45 minutes. Cool cakes in pans for 15 minutes then turn out onto cooling racks, peel off parchment paper and cool completely.
FROSTING
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with a handheld mixer on low speed until softened ～ 1 minute. Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest and icing sugar and beat for 30 sec. Gradually add heavy cream and beat on medium speed until the frosting is smooth and spreadable ~1 minute. Chill covered until ready to frost cake.
Assembly & Decoration
- Level the top of the cakes when the cake layers are completely cool. Frost the top of one cake layer. Place the second cake layer on top. Crumb coat the top and sides and freeze for 30 minutes. Add a second frosting layer and smoothen the sides and top of the cake. Chill in the fridge for an hour before décor.
- Microwave the dark and white chocolate with the heavy cream in 30 sec bursts until melted. Set aside.
- Separately, insert a 6 cm bendable plastic straw into a 21cm metal straw. Place the combined straw into the carrot cake ~ 2 inches from the edge of the cake. Coat the straw with the melted chocolate.
- Using the chocolate ganache as edible glue, gently coat the Ferrero chocolates with it and attach it to the straw. You may need to hold them where they are placed for several seconds, in order for the Ferrero chocolates to stick securely.
- Dress up the entire straw with the Ferroro chocolates and decorative gold coins, leaving only the bended tip of the plastic straw exposed. During this process, if the weather is too humid for the chocolates to attach well, chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes intervals as required, to solidify the structure before continuing. Once the straw is fully decked out, chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until ready to serving.
- Just before serving, pad the Blessings (福) Red Packet with crushed baking paper so that it looks filled. Place the mouth of the packet over the remaining exposed tip of the straw and voila!.. the Blessings Red Packet is now suspended in mid air and magically pouring out chocolate blessings unto the carrot cake!
- Serve and BASK in the oohs and ahhs of your cake audience ☺
Video
Notes
If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here 😊
- The Carrot Cake recipe is an easy 3 step recipe and quite fail proof. 1) Separately mix the dry and wet ingredients 2) Combine the two 3) Bake!
- Watch the frosting when adding the heavy cream. Do not overbeat or the heavy cream might curdle and the frosting will be grainy. Alternatively, if unsure of this step, you can separately beat the heavy cream to soft peaks and combine with the cream cheese using a spatula. Texture of the cream cheese should be smooth and spreadable - watch it @2.25 min of the Easy Carrot Cake video above.
- The KEY to the success of this CNY Blessings Carrot Cake IS the ASSEMBLY. Be patient in the assembly and decoration. Especially if you are living in sunny weather (average 34°C) like I am, give the chocolates sufficient chilling time to be secure and stick well.
- I chilled the cake intermittently (2-3 times) for 15 -20 minutes intervals during the decoration to allow the structure to solidify well. BE PATIENT and DON’T MISS this step. Otherwise you may chance Ferrero chocolates rolling off at will just when the cake is served.
- This is a TALL cake, almost 32cm or 12 inches once it is fully assembled. If you are serving this at home, everything is fine and good. Just out from the refrigerator and onto the table.
- However, if you are bringing this cake to a party (like I was), you will need to get a tall box that can fit the cake. And transport carefully! That’s why it’s imperative to chill the cake and structure well during assembly so that the fully decked out CNY Blessings Carrot Cake is super sturdy and stable, in particular during transport.