Here’s a preview of a recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Favorites–one of our customers’ favorite desserts. And what better way to eat your fruits and vegetables? It has a pound of carrots as well as pineapple and raisins.
Hands-on time: about an hour
Baking time: about an hour
Frosted Carrot Cake
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots
- 8-ounce can of unsweetened crushed pineapple
- 1¼ cups vegetable oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup raisins
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup salted butter, at room temperature
- 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter or oil a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and dust it with flour.
- Peel the carrots, cut them in ½- to ¾-inch chunks and pulse them in the bowl of a food processor until flaked. We’ve found that this method of preparing the carrots consistently works better for a cake than the more traditional way of grating them. Set the carrots aside. Put the pineapple in a colander and set aside to drain while you prepare the cake.
- In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the oil and sugar until well combined.
- Add the eggs and beat well.
- Beat in the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture just until all the flour is incorporated.
- Fold in the flaked carrots, drained pineapple, chopped walnuts, and raisins.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.
- To prepare the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until creamy.
- Beat in the lemon zest and lemon juice.
- Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until the frosting is a good consistency for spreading and is to your taste. (If your confectioners’ sugar is lumpy it’s a good idea to sift it.)
- When the cake is cool, spread the frosting over the top.
Notes
Variations: You can also make this a layer cake by baking the batter in two 9-inch round cake pans. They will take less time to bake, about 30 minutes. The recipe makes enough frosting for a layer cake. The walnuts can be omitted, but we prefer the cake with them.
Great Place! Great Food!
Hi, do you have a gluten free and sugar free holiday fruit cake/bread recipe. Would love to find one that has great taste in spite of the above restrictions. Thanks so very much!
Many blessings to you and yours!
Pam
Hi Pam,
We actually don’t have a sugar-free, gluten-free fruit cake recipe. I hope you may find a couple on the internet. Sorry, I thought we had replied a while ago!
Laura
A true carrot cake. Look no further! I love the flaked carrots as opposed to long stringy shreds. I was skeptical that I could get the right kind of carrot flakes with my cuisinart, but I followed the instructions carefully and that’s exactly what I got. I used a nice one pound bunch of organic carrots with the greens still attached. I ground allspice berries with my mortar and pestle, which took a few minutes to get them finely ground, but it was well worth the effort. I ended up using about a half teaspoon instead of a quarter teaspoon. I also put double the amount of lemon zest and juice in the frosting than called for. While still delicious, I wish I had stuck to the recipe amounts. It’s carrot cake, not lemon cake after all:) I’ve been giving pieces of this cake to people at work and they’ve all been raving about it. Thinking about making the caramel layer cake from the New Classics book next!
You’re quite the avid cook, Robert! People at work must be glad you’re so generous with your wares.