Carrot Cake

You can have your cake and eat it too, and might as well throw in the vegetables while you’re at it with this carrot cake.  With four cups of finely grated carrots it almost qualifies as health food; almost, but it is cake after all, and a treat, so I better not get carried away touting the benefits of carrots in a cake.

 

 

The recipe is pretty much straightforward and fairly easy to make.   It’s not a delicate cake, so you can expect consistently great results each time.

 

 

I’ve made this before using a 9” x 13” baking dish and it also came out just as good.

 

 

Because of the cream cheese frosting, this carrot cake should be stored in the refrigerator.  It actually tastes even more intense the following day when it’s thoroughly chilled, so this is a dessert that can be prepared in advance if you’re expecting company.

 

 

Chopped walnuts added to the batter provide a nice contrast to the moist texture of the cake.   The combination of the vanilla and the cream cheese in the frosting and the carrots in the cake is a symphony of flavors.  You wouldn’t have the slightest inkling the main ingredient is something that’s actually healthy.

 

 

I might just bake this again in a few days for Thanksgiving on Thursday.  And speaking of Thanksgiving, I do have a lot to be thankful for.  Life is so hectic and fast-paced, I’m often times in a rush either at work, or just getting from one place to the other in the course of everyday life; it’s easy to take for granted the many things that make life what it is.

It goes without saying, I’m thankful for my family without whom I cannot imagine life.  I’m thankful for true friends I’ve known for a long time.  I’m thankful that friends in the northeast were unharmed by the recent storm.  I’m thankful for being a part of a fabulous company.   I’m thankful for the time I can devote, however little, to my hobby, that is baking, in case it’s not obvious.  A big thank you to Baking Bites, for including a cake I baked previously in the post, Bites from Other Blogs.  That was really so nice, considering SugaryWinzy is just a new and relatively obscure site.  I’m thankful to you who visited this site; if there is even just one tiny bit of information that you can find useful, then that makes me glad.  I’m also thankful to Google for giving me sitelinks early last week, after just little more than two months since I started this blog.

 

 

Thank you!

 

And now back to the cake.  I read somewhere you could also add raisins to carrot cake.  I think I ought to try experimenting with that idea sometime to see how it turns out.  But as it is, it’s pretty gosh darn good already.

 

 

I wonder, with all the carrots that are in this cake, if one slice counts as a serving of vegetables.  I think the FDA will say no dice.

 

 

I used baby carrots and shredded them finely in the food processor.  Baby carrots are probably sweeter than large carrots.

 

 

I also used half a cup of applesauce to reduce the amount of oil.

 

 

Then for the cream cheese frosting, I used non-fat cream cheese.  You can’t tell the difference at all.

 

 

I had a small amount of extra batter that was enough to bake just a few cupcakes.

 

 Eat your carrots in a cake.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

• ½ cup oil
• ½ cup applesauce
• 1 ½ cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 4 cups finely grated carrots
• 1 ½ cups finely chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish or three 8-inch round baking pans with non-stick spray (I used four pans, but the standard is three).
2. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together.
3. Combine oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla.  Beat well on medium speed until well combined.
4. Reduce speed and gradually add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
5. Increase to medium speed and mix well for about 1 – 2 minutes.
6. Add carrots and walnuts and mix just until well combined.
7. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake between 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 16 ounces (2 bars) non-fat cream cheese
• 8 tablespoons butter at room temperature
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy.
2. Add the vanilla and beat until well combined.
3. Decrease speed and gradually add the powdered sugar.
4. Once all the powdered sugar is added, beat the frosting until smooth.

 

 

 

 

 

Carrot Cake Recipe