Carrot Cake with Cheese Cake Love

 Double-layer, Carrot Cake with Cheese Cake, Cream Cheese Crumb Coat, & Toasted Walnuts

This cake is delicious...and perfect on most holiday dessert tables.  Carrot Cake, recipe here, with cream cheese buttercream is a natural pairing, so... adding a cheese cake simply makes sense.

I baked a very similar cake last June and blogged it here.  At that time I used pecans and caramel.  For this rendition, I baked and garnished with walnuts and eliminated the caramel, but kept the cream cheese frosting.

As much as I like a minimal frosting, I am not happy with how the exposed cheese cake looks.  I don't believe I'll use this technique on another cake with a cheese cake.  Rustic is fine or roses or swirls... but not this minimalist, crumb coat.

Why yes, that cheese cake is a bit wonky and the cream cheese buttercream will be a perfect filler.

The topper is what I pulled from the craft cabinet: 3 kabob skewers and Fall colored ribbons.  Cake decorating doesn't have to be complicated.  Give yourself permission to use whatever you like or clear up some of the flotsam and jetsam of your craft bin.

The toasted walnuts are scrumptious.  Take the time to toast them in the oven for 7-8 minutes (I even pop them in the oven straight from the freezer while the oven is heating up).

I almost always love the slice photograph so I can see how appealing (or not appealing) each slice will appear to the person armed with a fork.

 

I'm already considering making this cake again...with a different frosting technique.

No matter how cake or circumstances unfold...I'm grateful for my partner, my kids, and sobriety.