I have done a rainbow carrot cake once before, but this variation was my way to revisiting that, but in a more concise and focused way. For this version, I made three different carrot cake batters, one with an orange carrot, one with a yellow carrot, and one with a purple carrot. I also wanted to add another component to bring in more flavor, so I went with a miso-pecan praline. Making a nut praline is interesting, since you’re making a nut butter, and blending in caramel into that. It can potentially overheat and break your blender/food processor if you do not blitz it in intervals, so just something to keep in mind there. When it came to the other components, I wanted to go the goat cheese route, since that was going to add a pleasant tang to contrast the cake. I used goat cheese in a mousseline, which is a pastry cream that is whipped with butter, and in this case, cream cheese and goat cheese, just to get a lighter, spreadable consistency. And for the other components, I candied rainbow carrots in simple syrup – when I saw the gorgeous color the syrup took on, I just had to take that and make a gelee(with yuzu juice to temper the sweetness) out of it, so that the pretty colors could be captured and used to decorate the cake itself! This was a recipe that evolved over time(I actually had to redo it because my first attempt literally imploded and fell apart as I tried to layer it up because my cake layers were too thick, and I tried to layer the cake up when the mousseline was not set enough), but I am extremely happy with how the end result came out! I had envisioned this clean cake with smooth goat cheese mousseline, and when you cut into it, there are colorful layers between the three carrot cakes and the praline, as well as the gelee and carrot chips on top. If you wanted something pastel/semi bunny-themed for Easter, this might just be your recipe!

Makes 1 6-inch cake, roughly 8 servings
For the miso-pecan praline:
3oz pecans
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp white miso
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp unsalted butter

In a pan, heat pecans, sugar, miso, and honey until sugar begins to brown. Take off heat and stir in the butter until melted. Pour the caramel onto a sheet of parchment and allow it to fully cool. Crack apart the caramelized pecans and transfer to a food processor. Purée in 1 minute intervals into a spreadable consistency. Divide between two 5-inch ring molds and freeze completely solid.

For the carrot cake:
*Please note you will actually be doing this below batter three times, one time for each color of carrot(purple, orange, and yellow)*
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1.5oz grated carrot
1oz brown sugar
.5 granulated sugar
.5oz canola oil
.1oz cider vinegar
.1oz vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix everything together to form your batters. Pour the batters into lined(tin foil-wrapped with cooking spray) 5-inch ring molds, placed on a sheet tray, and bake at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool completely before unmolding and placing into the freezer.

For the goat milk soak:
1/4 cup goat milk
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Mix everything together. Keep the soak refrigerated until time to assemble.

For the goat cheese mousseline:
3 egg yolks
2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp gelatin powder
1 tbsp cornstarch
6oz goat milk
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 stick unsalted butter
8oz cream cheese
8oz goat cheese

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, gelatin, and cornstarch. In a pot, heat up the goat milk and salt. Pour half of the goat milk over the egg yolks while whisking. Then pour the yolks into the pot with the rest of the goat milk and whisk everything on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken. Pass the goat milk custard through a sieve to remove any lumps. Allow the custard to cool before whipping in the vanilla, unsalted butter, cream cheese, and goat cheese to form your mousseline.

For initial assembly:
Line a 6-inch ring mold with cling wrap and a 6-inch tall acetate collar and place onto a sheet tray. Start by pouring 1/5 of the mousseline onto the mold. Then press in one of the cakes and brush 1/3 of the milk over that. Then add another 1/5 of the mousseline, then press in a disk of the praline. Then repeat all of these steps again with another round of mousseline, cake, soak, mousseline, and praline. Then pour in the rest of the mousseline, then last cake layer, and the soak. Freeze the cake solid, at least 4 hours, before attempting to unmold

For the candied rainbow carrot chips:
1 cup water, in two parts
1/2 cup granulated sugar, in two parts
1 orange carrot
1 yellow carrot
1 purple carrot

In two pots, add in one part each of the water and sugar and bring each pot to a simmer. Shave the carrots on a mandolin. Place the orange and yellow carrots into one pot, and the purple carrots into another, and simmer them in the sugar syrup for 10 minutes.

Fish the carrot slices out of the syrups, reserving both for the gelees, and place the slices onto a parchment and cooking spray-lined sheet tray. Bake the slices at 225 degrees F for 45 minutes. Store the carrot chips in an airtight container until time to assemble.

For the yuzu-rainbow carrot gelee:
reserved carrot syrups
2 tbsp yuzu juice, in two parts
2 tsp agar agar, in two parts
a pinch of salt

To each pot of carrot syrup, add in the yuzu juice, agar, and salt. Bring both pots to a simmer until everything is dissolved together. Pour the gelee bases into silicone sphere molds and refrigerate until solid.

For final assembly:
Warm the sides of the 6-inch ring mold to help release the mousse cake. Top the cake with the gelees and candied carrots to finish.