Ingredients
- Carrot Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 Carrot Cake & Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
- Carrot spheres (Cold Oil Spherification):
- 750g (1 ½ lbs) Carrots
- 180g (¾ cup) Sugar
- 1g (½ Cup) Citric Acid
- 1g (¼ tsp) Salt
- 5g (1 tsp) Super Agar
- 1000g (1 quart) Neutral Flavored Oil
- Ginger Spheres (Direct Spherification):
- 300g (1 ¼ cup) Ginger
- 120g (½ cup) Water
- 113g (½ Cup) Sugar
- 30g (½ Cup) Lemon Juice
- 4g (1 tsp) Sodium Citrate
- 3g (1/2 tsp) Perfected Sodium Alginate
- 1000g (1 quart) Water
- 10g (1 Tbsp) Calcium Chloride
- Candied Carrot Leaves:
- 40 (1/4 Cup) Carrot Leaves
- 180g (1 ½ cups) Water
- 500g (2 Cups) Sugar
Equipment
- Spherificator
- Spherification Spoon
- Vegetable Juicer
- Candy Thermometer
- Small Heavy Bottom Pot
- Heat Resistant Non-Stick Mat
Timing
Active Time: 1 Hour
Total Time: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
Yield
10 Servings
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Prepare Cold Oil Sphere Ingredients
Place the neutral flavored oil in the freezer for an hour or two prior to starting this recipe.
Boil a small amount of water and place it into the top of the Spherificator to preheat it.
Peel the carrots and juice them. Reserve 320g of carrot juice
Dry mix the sugar, citric acid, salt, and agar together.
Some store bought juice has added calcium, which will cause the sodium alginate to gel prematurely. If you want to use store bought juice, be sure to check that it has no added calcium, or juice your own ingredients.
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Create Carrot Cold Oil Spheres
In a pan whisk the carrot juice and add the sugar mixture. Place the pan over medium high heat and bring it to a boil.
Dump out the hot water from the Spherificator. Remove it from the heat and pour the mixture into the Spherificator.
Start the Spherificator and move it in a circular motion. Do not allow it to expel spheres into the same spot or they will bond together and make for oddly shaped spheres.
Stir the oil to make sure the spheres are separated. Store the spheres in a container of oil in the refrigerator until use. Strain the spheres with a spherification spoon and rinse them in a bowl of clean water before use. This will remove most of the oil from the outside of the spheres.
To clean the spherificator, add simmering water and run it until the water passes through clean.
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Prepare Alginate Spheres Ingredients
Juice the ginger using a juicer and add 120g water to the juice. Measure out 330g in total.
Mix together the ginger juice, sugar, lemon juice, and sodium citrate. Mix until all the sugar and sodium citrate have dissolved.
Place the liquid in a blender and begin blending on medium speed. Sprinkle in the Perfected sodium alginate. Allow the mixture to hydrate for at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile mix together the water and calcium chloride.
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Create Ginger Alginate Spheres
Stir the water and calcium mixture to make sure the spheres don’t stick together.
Fill a clean Spherificator with the ginger liquid, let the Spherificator dispense the spheres into the water with calcium chloride. With the Spherificator it’s best to keep moving the Spherificator in a circular motion to help prevent the spheres from sticking together.
Allow the spheres to sit in the calcium bath for 30 seconds to a minute before scooping out and rinsing in fresh water.
To clean the spherificator, add sanitizing solution and run it until the water passes through clean.
Mix together with the carrot spheres in the water before serving.
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Candy Carrot Leaves
Boil a small pot of water (not reflected in the recipe) and blanch the carrot leaves for 15-20 seconds. Once blanched, place the carrot leaves in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
Lay the leaves on paper towels and pat dry then let them sit for 10 minutes.
Place the sugar and water into a pan and heat it to 300°F. Once the sugar has reached 300°F you can add the leaves 2-3 at a time to the pan. Cook for 30 seconds before removing and placing them onto a heat resistant non-stick mat.
Cool the candied leaves for 10 minutes before removing from the mat and placing them in an airtight container.
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Plate Carrot Cake with Spheres
Cut the carrot cake into your desired shape.
Add a spoonful or two of the carrot and ginger spheres.
Garnish with the candied carrot leaves and serve.
4 Comments.
with the sphericator ordered, will I be getting the ingredients needed?
You’ll receive sodium alginate and calcium chloride, not the agar.
Why can I not create carrot spheres the same way as ginger spheres?
You can if you want to. But we chose to do two different types of spheres for this recipe so that there is a contrasting texture. If you wanted to do them all as either cold oil spherification or direct spherification you could.