My birthday isn’t until September (for those of you planning), but I’m already thinking about which cake I’ll ask my husband to make me. It’s always one of two: carrot cake or pineapple upside-down cake. I suppose what they have in common are strong flavors to balance out the sweetness: earthy carrots, bitter nuts and sour cream cheese in the former; tangy, juicy pineapple rings in the latter.
If we’re doing Dorie Greenspan’s carrot cake, there’s also subtly floral shredded coconut and tart raisins or dried cranberries, and lemon juice in the cream cheese frosting for enhanced sharpness. Dorie doesn’t frost the sides of her cake — you absolutely could — and I like the easygoing, unfussy look that gives this three-layer beauty. Yup, I think I’ve decided on my birthday cake. Better make it this Easter weekend to confirm.
Featured Recipe
Carrot Cake
Today’s specials:
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If you’d like your carrot cake to have a little somethin’-somethin’, you’ll want to make Vaughn Vreeland’s rum-raisin carrot cake. Watch Vaughn make his cake here!
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On the savory side of the carrot kingdom are Alexa Weibel’s new roasted carrots with whipped tahini. As someone who can’t resist the savory sauce + sweet roasted vegetable + crunchy topping formula, I can’t wait to try this.
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I’d heard of chicken à la king but didn’t know what it was until Eric Kim wrote about it for The New York Times Magazine: “Think of chicken potpie filling without the crust,” he writes in his recipe notes. Serve with rice or toast and a rewatch of “Mad Men.”
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Dan Pelosi’s new loaded oven fries are essentially baked potatoes in finger-food form, superior sports-watching sustenance. Allez les Habs!
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This new herby asparagus salad with beets and prosciutto from David Tanis would be wonderful on its own as a light dinner or elegant brunch. But if you’re going for full marks, serve it with his braised lamb shoulder and lemon sponge cake for a very springy menu.
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Ashley Lonsdale’s spice muffins are loaded with nutty brown butter, molasses, stout and spices like cardamom, allspice and cinnamon. They’re delightfully reminiscent of Jamaican spice bun.
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As she wrote in this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes, Genevieve Ko tested Nicola Lamb’s Easter egg nests “but won’t repeat them until Sunday morning because they come together so quickly and I’ll eat them all if they’re sitting around.” In other words: These adorable little treats are an excellent last-minute Easter dessert.
The post Just Look at This Carrot Cake appeared first on New York Times.
