Alex Budman: Carrot Cake Hayley Daen

Hayley Daen is a seriously good baker. For her, baking is more than just a hobby or way to get her friends fat. Hayley has taken this love for cooking to the real world; she worked at More, a gourmet cup cake bakery near Chicago, and spent a summer testing recipes for Nathalie Dupree’s book “Southern Biscuits” (taste tester is hands down the best job in the world). She has also interned at the online food frenzy Serious Eats and currently maintains her own blog Baking the Book, which gets about 150 hits per day.

Hayley, a lover of raw cookie dough, started cooking at a young age with her mother in their Charleston, South Carolina home. Carrot cake is family favourite in the Daen household, and is the treat her mother always served to party-goers at birthday parties.

To make this delicious dessert, all you need is a bowl and a wooden spoon. The best part of the recipe is its ‘simplicity’, Hayley says, as it is mixer-free and very low tech. Bringing baking back to the basics is what Hayley’s cooking is all about.

Besides carrot cake, Hayley’s favourite thing to make is ice cream. She admits to loving the science behind watching the cream solidify and creating revamped, gourmet versions of classic flavours like vanilla.

Hayley, I apologise in advance, but if anyone is ever near Starbucks on Market Street and gets a waft of something sugary, spicy, and all things nicey, then knock on all doors till you find her. You’ll be begging for a piece of whatever she has made!

Check out Hayley’s awesome site and be wowed by her hundreds of other beautiful creations. Her baking genius redefines the term “eye candy”!