Carrot Cake
JUMP TO RECIPE
This is a healthier version of Carrot Cake that’s still moist and delicious, along with being packed full of healthy carrots, walnuts, orange zest, and sweet spices. If you want to make it even simpler or prefer a dairy-free icing, just dust with a little confectioner’s sugar. The carrots on top are made from almond marzipan and make for an easy yet impressive edible decoration.
The cream cheese icing and marzipan carrots are a simple addition that make this cake even more special!
Easter is a special time to remember Christ is Risen!! Let us not forget why we celebrate this special time of year. I have fond memories of picking out a new dress for the Easter service, having a huge family gathering afterwards with ham, fixins, desserts, and easter egg hunts. My grandmother would of course dye hard-boiled eggs for us to find, but she always threw out some prewrapped egg-shaped hollow candies that I sadly cannot find ANYWHERE anymore. None-the-less, I fondly remember the hunts, fun, food, and her yard was always filled with blooming trees, bushes and her buttercups were in full array. This cake is healthy enough not to feel too guilty after the big meal and I also like to enjoy it the next day (if there are leftovers) with coffee for breakfast.
Let’s begin:
Ingredients:
For cake:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (can also use olive oil)
juice from 1 orange
zest from 1 orange
2 cups whole-wheat flour (can also use almond or all-purpose flour)
3 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts, ground
4-5 medium carrots, grated and squeezed dry
Optional add-ins:
raisins (1/2 cup)
another spice, such as ginger, clove, or cardamom.
For Icing:
one 8oz package plain cream cheese
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp orange juice
To Decorate:
3 oz marzipan almond dough (can find here)
orange and green food coloring (you can also make orange with 2 drops yellow, one drop red)
I begin with grating my carrots…
…and I also go ahead and grind up my walnuts. Here I used my coffee grinder (I just didn’t want to get out my big Ninja)..but by all means, use a food processor or anything else you have!
Prepare your pan by greasing and then placing parchment paper on bottom and grease that also. I used one 8 inch pan, but you can also use one 9 inch pan, just reduce cooking time.
Preheat the oven to 350℉ / 175℃
Beat eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice and zest together until light and frothy.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and spices and beat for another minute.
Stir in the carrots and nuts.
…by all means, add some raisins if you’d like!
Carefully spoon batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour. Check for soft crumbs with a toothpick inserted into center. After about 5 minutes, carefully slide a butter knife around edges to loosen.
Let cool another 5 minutes, then invert cake onto a cooling rack and let cool completely before icing (or dusting with confectioners sugar.)
To make the cream cheese frosting:
You will need:
one 8oz package cream cheese
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp orange juice
Beat together the cream cheese, honey and orange juice until smooth.
That’s it, easy peasy…ready to ice the cake now!
You don’t have to be a cake decorator to ice this cake. It’s supposed to look simple and rustic. I used an icing knife, but you can use a butter knife or spoon to achieve the same results. (see below)
After I spread the icing evenly over the top of cake, I used to tip of icing knife (a spoon would work nicely also) and went side to side, working my way down to create this simple lined look.
Marzipan carrot instructions:
You’ll need:
Parchment paper
gloves
food coloring
marzipan dough, 8oz
Lay your parchment paper or waxed paper down to prevent staining the underlying surface. Take off rings and put gloves on before beginning. It’s also a good idea to put on an apron to protect your clothes.
Make a tennis-sized ball of dough for the orange carrots, and a smaller than a golf ball size for the green stems.
Push in a well, with your thumbs, in the middle of each ball. (you will want to color each one separate and change gloves in-between)
Add food coloring in the well that you made. I start with just 2 or three drops for the orange, and 1-2 drops for the green. (You can always add more dye if you want a deeper color, or if you added too much, just add some more dough in.)
I used orange food coloring, but you can also use 2 drops yellow, and 1 drop red to achieve the same result.
Knead and work with dough until color is evenly spread throughout.
Tear a small piece off and roll between fingers, creating a carrot shape with one end wider than the other. (a cone shape) Push the tip of your finger into the middle top of wide end, this is where your green stem will go.
Use a toothpick to slightly score lines down to length of the carrot. You don’t have to be an artist, carrots are naturally ugly anyway.
Hint: I made some shallow lines, and a few deeper indents to give a more realistic look and also slightly curved the sides and ends of carrots in different directions.
Pinch a tiny piece of green dough off and roll in a tiny cylinder shape and pinch (almost) flat to create the leaf look, and then slightly fold together and pinch bottom of fold.
Carefully place the stem into the divot you created in top of carrot, then push top of carrot together enough to hold stem.
Wah La! You’ve made carrots!
Now add those works of art to your cake!
I made big ones, but you can make smaller ones and score your cake on top and add one to the middle of each slice score for an elegant presentation.
Enjoy!
💜Julie
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Instructions
- Begin by grating the carrots and grinding the walnuts and set aside for later.
- Prepare your pan by greasing and then placing parchment paper on bottom and grease that also. (I used one 8 inch pan, but you can also use one 9 inch pan, just reduce cooking time.)
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ / 175℃
- Beat eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice and zest together until light and frothy.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and spices and beat for another minute.
- Stir in the carrots and nuts.
- Carefully spoon batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour. Check for soft crumbs with a toothpick inserted into center.
- After about 5 minutes, carefully slide a butter knife around edges to loosen.
- Let cool another 5 minutes, then invert cake onto a cooling rack and let cool completely before icing (or dusting with confectioners sugar.)
- Beat together the cream cheese, honey and orange juice until smooth.
- Spoon onto cake and spread to cover top evenly.
Notes
You can also add 1/2 cup raisins along with the carrots and walnuts.
If you wish to forgo the cream cheese icing, you can alternatively dust with powdered sugar.
