Cake Thief

The best way to explain how much I love carrot cake is to tell you about a horrible thing I did when I was 17. That summer, my mom married a man named Craig, and at their wedding I devoured slice after slice of the loveliest carrot cake I've ever tasted. 

At first glance, it looked like an everyday sheet cake, short and square with a snowy layer of frosting coating all sides. But it had a light, moist crumb, flecked with sweet strands of carrot and plump little raisins. There were also walnuts, I think, scattered throughout every slice. That cake kept me hovering by the dessert table all afternoon. 

The saddest part of the story, though, is that eating multiple slices of cake at the wedding was not enough to sate my appetite for the thing; in the months that followed, I continued to pick at the foil wrapped slab my mom had tucked away in our freezer. There was no harm, I reasoned, in taking a sliver here and a sliver there - except that there was. That slab I was nibbling away at was the piece she and my new stepdad were saving for their first anniversary. 

Yes, I am a cake thief of the worst sort.

Based on this evidence, you might think that the cake was the Best Carrot Cake I'd Ever Eaten. But truthfully, I just can't be trusted around carrot cake of any sort. It disappears just as quickly whether it's an elegant, multi-layerd cake or, as I learned recently, a basterdized version of the old classic that invites parsnips to the pastry party.

Parsnips, after all, are not so different from carrots. They are both spindly root vegetables that we're eager to ignore completely or serve solely in roasts and mashes and soups. In truth, their natural sweetness and delicate texture suggests they belong in baked goods; blend the two root veggies together and you'll capture the inherent flavors of each.

And since I've just, hopefully, convinced you to swap parsnips in for some of the carrots in your next cake, let's push this cake a little further in the obscure direction, away from the ubiquitous coconut-pineapple mix-ins toward boozy rum raisins. And icing? Yes please.

These cupcakes might not replace that stolen wedding cake but I think they'll remind my parents that I'm still very sorry. 

Iced Carrot-Parsnip Cupcakes

Though I adore carrot cake, I also like turning a classic recipe on its head by incorporating the humble parsnip into the batter. The rum raisins strewn through the batter give them adult appeal. 

Makes 18 cupcakes

For the cupcakes

1 cup raisins

3 tablespoon dark rum
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 ¼ cups packed brown sugar
¾ cup grapeseed oil
4 eggs
½ cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups finely grated peeled carrots
1 ½ cups finely grated peeled parsnips
½ cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped

For the icing

4 ounces cream cheese

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon grated orange zest

1–2 tablespoons fresh orange juice 

Make the cupcakes: Prepare two standard size muffin tins with paper liners and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  

Place the raisins and rum in a microwave safe bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Microwave them on high for 1 minute. Uncover the raisins and set aside to cool. 

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Beat the brown sugar and oil together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Mix in the applesauce and vanilla on medium speed. Mix in the flour mixture on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.  

Fold in the carrots, parsnips, pecans, and ¾ cup of the raisins with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fill the prepared muffin tins approximately two-thirds full with the batter and bake for 20 minutes, until the cupcakes are golden brown and a wooden pick comes out clean. 

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the tins. Cool them completely on a wire rack.

Make the frosting: When the cupcakes are cool, blend the cream cheese and butter with a handheld mixer on medium speed. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into the bowl and beat it into the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until incorporated. Mix in the vanilla, orange zest, and 1 tablespoon of the orange juice on medium speed. Add the remaining tablespoon of orange juice if needed to thin out the frosting.  

Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes. Top each cupcake with a few of the remaining rum-soaked raisins before serving.