Roasty Toasty Carrot Cake
/An easy, single layer snack cake loaded with caramelized, roasted carrots, bright citrus, and toasted walnuts and topped with a classic cream cheese frosting.
Guys, I’ve been sitting on this recipe for a long time waiting for the perfect time to share it. I started working on this recipe back around Easter, when our recipe lists and tables were filled with carrot cake. For starters, I wanted simple—single layer, no torte-ing, easy to mix together. But I also wanted a little bit interesting when it came to flavors. I started playing around with the idea of roasting carrots before adding them for an extra layer of depth, adding lots of toasted walnuts, and balancing all of that warmth out with bright citrus flesh, zest, and juice. After a few trials, we had a winner.
a very easy carrot cake recipe
This recipe features our usual carrot cake cast of characters:
Flours: I used a blend of spelt and all purpose for a bit of extra nuttiness, but you can definitely do 100% all purpose if you don’t have any spelt flour.
Spices and Leaveners: There are lots of warming spices in this recipe—cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. And then baking soda to balance the acidity in the carrots and baking powder for rise. And salt. Always salt.
Sugar: For sweetness, of course.
Oil: This is an oil-based cake for maximum moisture. I like the grassiness of olive oil, but you could also use any neutral oil of your choice—avocado, vegetable, or grapeseed.
Eggs: In this recipe, eggs provide fat, emulsification, moisture, and structure.
Carrots: In this recipe, I’m using carrots two ways: some roasted and pureed for depth of flavor and lots of moisture. Plus a few shredded carrots because you can’t have carrot cake without visible carrot pieces.
Walnuts: Extra toasty.
Citrus: I used both orange and lemon zest, plus chopped up the flesh of the orange for a little extra pizzazz.
Roasty Toasty Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 3 large carrots
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup (65 g) spelt flour
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 1/3 cup (260 g) granulated sugar
- 1 orange, zested
- 1 lemon, zested
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup (165 g) olive oil
- carrot puree, from roasted carrots (above)
- 2 large carrots, shredded
- 1 cup (100 g) toasted walnuts
- the flesh of one orange, chopped
- 2 oz (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 4 oz creme fraiche
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 425° F.
- Cut carrots into sticks and place in a small baking dish. Add the olive oil, sugar, and salt and stir to coat. Roast for 30 minutes, until carrots are softened and caramelized. Let cool.
- Transfer the cooled, roasted carrots to a food processor and pulse until pureed. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a 9” cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together spelt flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine sugar, orange zest, lemon zest, and eggs. Whip on medium high speed for 3-4 minutes until light in color and thick.
- Decrease the mixer speed to low and gradually stream in the olive oil, whipping until homogenized. Add the carrot puree and mix once more until completely combined.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the dry ingredients. Stir with a rubber spatula until all of the flour has been incorporated and no dry spots remain.
- Chop the toasted walnuts and add them to the batter along with the shredded carrots. Peel the orange and chop the flesh. Add the orange flesh to the batter. Gently fold with a rubber spatula until everything is distributed throughout the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, until the cake is deeply browned, the top is set, and the sides begin to pull away from the pan.
- Cool completely in the pan, and then flip out onto a cooling rack.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat for about 30 seconds, until smooth.
- Add the crème fraîche, sift in the powdered sugar, and add the vanilla and salt. Whip again until frosting is thick and smooth.
- Spread the frosting in a thick layer over the top of the cooled cake.
