Sunday, April 14, 2013

Cheesecake Carrot Cake

For Easter I wanted to make something special and delicious and non-paleo friendly.  Rule breaker!
I saw a recipe from Beantown Baker for Carrot Cake & Cheesecake and loved the idea - two of our favorites!

I followed this Tyler Florence Cheesecake recipe from FoodNetwork, minus the crust and this recipe from Southern Living for the carrot cake (with some changes), and Beantown Baker's Cream Cheese Frosting recipe.  I baked both cakes the day before, let them chill overnight, and assembled the following day.  Below is how I did it-

First, make the
Cheesecake
16 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream
1 lemon, zested
1 dash vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Beat the cream cheese on low speed for 1 minute until smooth and free of any lumps. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue to beat slowly until combined. Gradually add sugar and beat until creamy.

Add sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Mix well but don't overmix. Pour the cheesecake into a springform pan with parchment paper on the bottom (cut to fit).

I skipped the water bath because I haven't had success with them and the cake will be layered anyway.

Bake for 45 minutes and let cool completely. Chill in the refrigerator overnight.

While it's baking, make the
Carrot Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrot
1 cup chopped walnuts

Stir together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in large bowl.
Beat eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in carrot and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared cakepans.

Bake at 350° about 30 minutes until done and cool completely.

I then wrapped them all up and refrigerated until the next day.

When ready to assemble, prepare cream cheese frosting.  

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
1 Tbsp vanilla
4 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat cream cheese on medium-high until completely smooth, 3-4 minutes. Add the butter and continue to cream until fluffy.  Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Assemble cakes with cheesecake in the middle and frosting between

Then make it pretty!  I colored some of the frosting to get decorative-




So good!  Both the cheesecake and the carrot cake recipes were awesome and I would definitely use them (separately or together) again.

1 comment:

  1. OMG - this looks wonderful - definitely trying this for Easter!

    ReplyDelete