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.