Morton’s Carrot Cake

This week Steal This Recipe goes a little off the beaten path with a prized family recipe from Marianne Artinian which has been recently added to the menu at the infamous chain of Morton's Steakhouses.

This week Steal This Recipe goes a little off the beaten path with a prized family recipe from Marianne Artinian which has been recently added to the menu at the infamous chain of Morton's Steakhouses.

Morton's Restaurant Group, Inc. is the world's largest operator of company-owned upscale steakhouses and is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The Company owns and operates 80 Morton's steakhouses located in 68 cities in 28 states and Puerto Rico and five international locations (Toronto, Vancouver, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau), as well as three Italian restaurants.

The relationship between Marianne Artinian and Morton's is not by coincidence. Her son, Chris Artinian is Vice President of East Coast Operations for Morton's and is involved in the menu selection process for the national steakhouse chain. While taste-testing other carrot cakes being considered to for the Morton's menu, Chris shared with the founders that his mom’s twenty year-old recipe could easily beat out the competition. Marianne's recipe secrets include "bathing" the cake in a buttermilk glaze, adding fresh pineapple and using twice the normal amount of frosting.

Klaus Fritsch, the co-founder of Morton's fell immediately in love with this recipe and the testing process was begun. After six months of rigorous testing in 12 locations, the carrot cake is now featured at all 80 Morton's The Steakhouse locations nationwide.

About the chef: at age sixty-six, Marianne Artinian remains committed to her first passion in life; cooking. Artinian's culinary skills were only enjoyed by her family and friends until her Carrot Cake made its debut at Morton's. Gracing the dessert menu at Morton's is no small feat as this is the first new dessert added since the company's addition of Key Lime Pie more than a decade ago.

Morton's, the Steakhouse
Tel: 866 667 8667
www.mortons.com

Morton's Carrot Cake is served at Morton's for $10.25 to $11.50.
This recipe makes 12 to 14 restaurant servings.

Morton's Carrot Cake Ingredients for the Cake:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup fresh pineapple, crushed
2 cups carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
1 1/3 cups loosely packed shredded, sweetened coconut
2 cups finely chopped walnuts

Morton's Carrot Cake Ingredients for the Buttermilk Glaze:
1 cup sugar
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Morton's Carrot Cake Ingredients for the Frosting:
1 ½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 ½ teaspoons fresh orange juice
1 ½ teaspoons grated orange zest
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions for the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Generously butter two 9-inch round cake pans, each about 1 ½ inches deep.
Dust each cake pan with about 1 tablespoon of flour and tap out the excess.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until blended.
Add the sugar, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla and thoroughly incorporate.
Add the pineapple, carrots, coconut and 1 cup of the walnuts and mix well, then add the flour and fold into the batter with a rubber spatula.
Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake on the center rack of the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the sides of the cakes pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions for the Glaze:
While the cake is baking, mix together the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup, and baking soda until well blended in a small saucepan.
Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring, until heated through and the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Set aside and cover to keep warm.
Remove the cakes from the oven and put them, still in the pans, on wire racks sitting on baking sheets. Using a toothpick, poke about 20 holes in the top crust of each cake layer.
Do not poke holes deeper than halfway through the cakes. Whisk the glaze and pour it evenly over the cake layers.
Let the cakes cool completely and then cover them, still in the pans, with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours, or until completely chilled.

Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions for the frosting:
In the bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and set on medium speed or with a handheld mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and cream cheese for about 2 minutes or until fluffy.
Add the confectioners' sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla. Mix slowly so that the sugar doesn't fly out of the bowl. Gradually increase the speed and beat for about 1 minute or until the frosting is smooth.

Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions To Assemble:
Remove the cake layers from the refrigerator and invert them on a work surface.
You might need to run a kitchen knife around the edges to loosen the layers.
Put 1 layer on a platter, glazed-side down.
Put about 1 ½ cups (a third) of the frosting on the center of the cake layer and spread it evenly over the cake.
There should be a layer of frosting about ½-inch thick. If the frosting is soft, return the cake to the refrigerator to stiffen it up.
Put the other layer on top of the cake, glazed-side down, and frost the top of the cake with about 1 ½ cups (a third) of the frosting.
With the remainder of the frosting, cover the sides of the cakes with a thin layer.
With the tip of the spatula, press lightly into the top layer of frosting and pull it up to form little spikes.
Repeat over the entire top of the cake.
Lightly sprinkle top of the cake with about 3 tablespoons of chopped walnuts.
Press the remaining walnuts onto the sides of the cake.
Serve at room temperature.