Microwave a delicious 3-layer carrot cake with Gemma's easy recipe

Hi Bold Bakers, as you know I am somewhat of an expert when it comes to making a cake in the microwave. And with it being spring, I thought it was the perfect time to share with you a really moist three-layered cake made in the microwave in just 10 minutes. You are not going to believe it when it's done. As always the recipe can be found on my website, BiggerBolderBaking.com. Okay let's get started in a nice large bowl. So add in your flour, baking soda, some baking powder, this cake needs both raising agents to make it nice and fluffy. A little bit of cinnamon because carrot cake has that lovely warmth to it. And then of course a little bit of salt because all your baking needs that little bit of salt to bring out all the other flavors. And then what you want to do is just whisk all these ingredients together to make sure that they're really well combined. Okay perfect, now we're gonna set this aside and get started with our wet ingredients. So you want to do this next step in a nice large bowl because we're gonna end up mixing our whole cake in here. So into this we're gonna crack in some eggs. Now make sure your eggs are at room temperature because they just whip up so much better. Now our next ingredient is really common in carrot cakes and I personally love to use it. It is a flavorless oil. So you can use a canola oil, vegetable oil, even coconut actually would work really well. Just do not use an olive oil because the flavor is too strong. Then into this mix we're going to add in our sugar. And then follow this with a little bit of vanilla extract. I love vanilla extract in my baking, if you watch a lot of Bigger Bolder Baking you will know that. invest in some good vanilla extract, or remember you can always make your own and I have a recipe on my website of how you can do that. So now the next step is to whisk up our eggs really nice and thick, now I find it best to use an electric hand mixer, if you don't have one don't worry you can always just use a hand whisk and a lot of elbow grease. So now whisk this up on high speed for around 4-5 minutes until you see the eggs and the mix get really nice and thick. And then we are done, look at that. Okay so this is looking great, now we're gonna take our dry ingredients that we mixed up, put them into here, and then fold them all together. So I said fold, but this is more like a whisk, just to make sure that there's no lumps in your flour. And when it's just incorporated, like this, now we're going to add in the rest of our ingredients, what really makes this cake stand out. So into here I'm going to add in some grated carrot. Next is one of my secret ingredients, and it's crushed pineapple. So go ahead and add that in there. You want to just chop up your pineapple or even puree it really smooth. So here I have some grated coconut, now if you've ever tried my best ever carrot cake, I don't have pineapple or coconut in that recipe. I love to add it in here because it kind of gives your cake almost kind of a tropical feel to it. Now if you don't like pineapple or coconut, feel free to leave it out and just make up that weight with some carrot. And then last but not least, one of my favorite things to find in a carrot cake is raisins. when you bake them they get really plump in the cake. Okay so all of our lovely goodies are in our cake, now with a spatula just go ahead and fold these ingredients in. So just imagine the elements in this cake, there's the oil, there's the moist pineapple, all the moisture that comes from those is gonna plump up the carrot, plump up the raisins and just make this an incredible cake. There we go, perfect. So now let's talk molds, we obviously can't use tins in the microwave. here I have these really handy molds and I have a link on my website of where you can buy these, they're really inexpensive and I find that they're really handy. They're 8 inches and I'm going to use 3. So now if you don't want to buy these you can use any dish that's safe for your microwave, a casserole dish, anything like that will work perfectly. So now we have our mix, so all you want to do is just evenly as you can divide it in between your 3 molds. You don't have to line these molds but I find it really useful if you actually butter them to make sure that your cake is gonna come out clean. You can probably tell by now that this is actually gonna make a really big cake. Which is perfect because when a cake is really good you just want more of it. Now in case you're wondering if you don't have a microwave, this cake bakes perfectly in the oven at 350°F or 180°C for roughly 40-45 minutes. Okay, these are looking perfect, they are ready to go into the microwave. So you want to cook each layer off one at a time for roughly 3-4 minutes. This timing is based on my microwave which is 1200 watts. So check the wattage of your microwave because you might need a little bit more time or even a little bit less. Once your first layer is cooked, go ahead and pop in your second layer. So now if you haven't tried one of my microwave cakes before, you are not going to believe the results. Unlike a cake from the oven, the microwave actually steams so you end up with this really soft cake. And best of all, it only takes roughly around 10 minutes to cook. So now if you are new to cakes made in a microwave, then prepare to have your mind blown. I have so many recipes on my website, including large three-layered cakes and even single serving cakes made in a mug, so make sure you go check those out. So just like magic, our cakes are done. They look fantastic. Now come here to me, I want to show you how you can tell when they're cooked. As you can see, they're not wet on top of your cake, and if you push down, they're firm underneath your finger which means that they are lovely and done. Okay great. Now the best thing about this cake, it gets better with age so if you want to make this for a celebration and make it a day or even two days in advance, that is totally fine. Right now I'm gonna set these aside until they go totally cold and then they'll be ready to decorate. So now my cake is cooled so it's time to decorate. Now you cannot have carrot cake without cream cheese frosting. Now I have this recipe on my website, it's super super easy to make. Now here I have my first layer of carrot cake. As you can see I flipped this layer over so at the end your cake will be nice and level. So first off I'm gonna take a nice dollop of cream cheese frosting and just spread it on this layer. Now you know me and my cake decorating style, I'm rustic, I like things easy. So just do it nice and swiftly and then we're gonna move on to the next layer. Pop the other one on. As you decorate just take a little bit of a step back and just make sure that your cake is nice and straight because I am no stranger to cakes going like this. And then you gotta shimmy them back into shape. Okay gorgeous. Now another nice big dollop on the top of this layer. When it comes to cakes I'm not shy with frosting, I like to get a good bit of frosting and cake at the same time. So don't be shy with this. Okay lovely, now for our last layer. Now the trick is here, you want to definitely make sure you flip it over So you get a nice smooth top, make it easy to decorate, and then pop it on top. Look at that. So now for the outside of this cake. For those of you who don't think you're the best cake decorator in the world, do not worry, I've got you covered. We're gonna put a nice big dollop on the top, and then smear it all the way down the sides. And the look that we're going for is called a naked cake, so all we're doing is pretty much a crumb layer and then we're stopping. It's really rustic, it is super super easy. anybody can do it. All we're doing is just thinly covering over all of the cake, making sure that frosting is all around it, and that is going to be how the outside of our cake is decorated. I do it kind of fast, I don't go over it too many times, and that's when I get the best results. Okay I've covered all my cake, this is the look that I'm going for. Now you see the sides here, the way the cake is kind of peeking out? This is the cake look that we're going for. A naked cake, rustic, perfect. Now all I want to do is just finish off the top of this cake and then we're done. So here I have my cream cheese in a piping bag with no nozzle because I want to get it nice and round. And all I'm going to do is just do a nice big dollop. I start at 12, 3, 6, 9. Just helps me space out the cake. And then just go ahead and do two nice big dollops in between those. You have to have cream cheese frosting when it comes to carrot cake, it's like the law. And the tanginess of it just really balances well with the cake. Okay gorgeous, now let me show you the beautiful little decorations I have for on top of here. So here I have some lovely little chocolate carrots that I made. All it is is melted white chocolate that I colored with a little bit of orange food dye and green food dye and then I just piped them in to make these lovely little carrots. Just go ahead and pop them on the top of your cream cheese dollops. Just Just look at that, considering that I decorated it so quickly, just look how pretty it looks. And those little carrots definitely send it over the top. Okay, now I was telling you how moist and delicious this cake is, now I'm gonna stop talking and cut into it just so you can see how amazing this is. Check that out. Not only is it a really thick cake, but the coconut, the pineapple, the oil in here makes it so incredibly soft. Now my favorite part of the job, the chief taster. See, for me, carrot cakes remind me of Ireland, it reminds me of when I was young, we used to eat it a lot, my mom made it incredibly, I absolutely love this cake. You have to try this cake and put it on your spring baking list, you will not regret it. I'll see you back here really soon for more Bigger Bolder Baking.