Post by @cartersbakeshop

Recipe for two ways because carrot cake is a good example of where the literal ingredient may or may not be the thing that makes the finished drink read as the dessert. These should make around 16 oz syrup. Store refrigerated in a clean, sealed container and use within about 1–2 weeks. Label and date it, and discard if you notice mold, unusual cloudiness, off aromas, or fermentation. Carrot Cake Syrup With Carrot Juice Use a 100% carrot juice with carrots as the only ingredient. Avoid one with lemon or other fruit juices if the goal is a cleaner carrot cake profile. 180 g carrot juice 120 g water 225 g dark brown sugar 75 g cane sugar 1.8 g ground cinnamon 0.45 g ground ginger 0.15 g ground nutmeg 0.04–0.05 g ground clove 0.8 g fine salt 5 g vanilla bean paste or extract 1.5 g cake batter flavoring, optional Heat the carrot juice and water to about 190–200°F. Add the sugars, spices, and salt and whisk or immersion blend until dissolved. There is no need to aggressively boil or automatically reduce the carrot juice first. Test the carrot at this concentration in the finished latte before deciding it needs to be stronger. Cool to about 140°F or below, then add the vanilla and optional cake batter flavoring. Blend briefly, cool, bottle, refrigerate, and shake before use if the spices settle. Carrot Cake Syrup No Carrot Juice This is the version I currently prefer for a cleaner cake association. 180 g water 225 g dark brown sugar 75 g cane sugar 1.8 g ground cinnamon 0.45 g ground ginger 0.15 g ground nutmeg 0.04 g ground clove 0.8 g fine salt 5 g vanilla bean paste or extract 1.5-2 g cake batter flavoring Heat the water to about 190–200°F. Add the sugars, spices, and salt and whisk or immersion blend until fully dissolved. Cool to around 140°F or below, then add the vanilla and cake batter emulsion. Blend briefly, cool, bottle, refrigerate, and shake before use if needed. For either version, start around 30-40 g syrup in a 16 oz iced latte with a double espresso, milk, and ice, then adjust. If you have made a carrot cake syrup before and it tasted more like spiced carrot juice, the answer may not be to chase more carrot. You may be missing the cake association. For carrot cake, that can come from dark brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, a tiny amount of clove, and a baked-cake note. You can then reinforce the rest of the dessert elsewhere in the drink if you want to. A lightly salted cream cheese cream top can bring in the frosting association. The carrot cake spice blend can be made separately and dusted over the top for more aroma. You could even add a little finely ground freeze dried carrot to that finishing dust if you still want an actual carrot component. And as always, concentrates and flavorings are another tool. A carrot cake flavoring, straight carrot flavoring, or a product like Amoretti can reinforce the profile without asking the syrup base to do everything. None of those extra components are required. A café can absolutely make a good fall drink with one well developed syrup. The point is that carrot cake, pumpkin spice, sweet potato pie, cookie butter, gingerbread, snickerdoodle, banana bread, and apple crisp can all share some of the same warm spices.What changes the perception is the balance. Sometimes the literal ingredient improves the drink. Sometimes it complicates it. The finished perception is what matters. #coffeesyrups #coffeeathome #fallcoffee #carrotcake #coffeeshop