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.

Yield 8, one 9" cake

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

1 Hour

Total time

1 H & 30 M

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Roasty Toasty Carrot Cake

( 0 reviews )

This simple, spiced snack cake is filled with sweet, roasted carrots and toasted walnuts and topped with a bright, tangy cream cheese frosting.

IngredientsUSMetric

for the roasted carrots

• 3 large carrots
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• pinch of salt

for the cake

• 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

for the frosting

• 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

to make the roasted carrot puree

1. Preheat the oven 425° F.
2. 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.
3. Transfer the cooled, roasted carrots to a food processor and pulse until pureed. Set aside.

to make the cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a 9” cake pan with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together spelt flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Set aside.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Cool completely in the pan, and then flip out onto a cooling rack.

to make the frosting

1. 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.
2. Add the crème fraîche, sift in the powdered sugar, and add the vanilla and salt. Whip again until frosting is thick and smooth.
3. Spread the frosting in a thick layer over the top of the cooled cake.

Similar Recipes

Caramel Almond Snack Cake

Salted Honey and Banana Snack Cake

Roasted Grape and Olive Oil Cake

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it # gatheredatmytable

Tahini Orange Cinnamon Rolls with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These warm, buttery cinnamon rolls are filled with cinnamon sugar, tahini, and a bit of orange zest. They are topped with an addictive browned butter and cream cheese frosting.

I am truly, truly soaking up every moment of fall this year. For the first time in a long time, I’m baking cinnamon rolls and drinking apple cider and around me, the leaves are actually changing and the temperature is dropping! In sunny, sweet Florida, fall baking was done from my 90° kitchen, no matter the month, and trees stayed green and palm-y all year long. (I’m not complaining though, because the beach was always close by….just soaking up this new climate while I have it).

In my mind, the number one fall baking project is cinnamon rolls. I have a few different sweet roll type recipes on the blog, but this is the first true and classic cinnamon roll and it is a very good one. They are fairly straightforward and traditional, but you guys know me, so they do have a little tahini mixed into the filling and some orange zest brightens things up. They are finished with a browned butter cream cheese frosting that is one of the best I’ve ever eaten and I wouldn’t judge you one bit for doubling the recipe and keeping some in the fridge for frosting emergencies. You never know.

So let’s dive in!

homemade cinnamon roll dough

This recipe, like a lot most cinnamon roll recipes is made with an enriched, brioche-like sweet dough. Enriched doughs are yeasted doughs that include some sort of combination of eggs, butter, milk, and sugar. A brioche is one that has a very high concentration of eggs and butter and often incorporates milk. It’s exceptionally soft and buttery, but can sometimes be a bit tricky to work with. A sweet dough is basically the same as a brioche dough, but has a lower amounts of butter, eggs, and sugar, and sometimes doesn’t include milk. (If all of this interests you like it does me, Erin McDowell has a great breakdown of enriched doughs that you can read here.)

This dough recipe falls somewhere in the middle of the the brioche-sweet dough spectrum. It doesn’t have quite as much butter as some of my other brioche recipes (like this Cinnamon Swirl Brioche and this Chocolate Tahini Brioche Babka), but it does incorporate buttermilk and decent amount of eggs. It’s also made in a brioche-style of mixing.

Yeast and buttermilk start us off. Then dry ingredients and eggs get added and kneaded into a shaggy dough, before softened butter is added cube by cube. Using a stand mixer is pretty important here since brioche undergoes a pretty extensive kneading process (made a bit stickier by all of the butter). Because this dough is enriched, all of those additions like sugar, eggs, milk, and butter get in the way of gluten formation. This means that it’s going to take a bit longer for sufficient gluten formation to form—a stand mixer makes this so much easier!

chilling the dough

I will forever preach cold-proofing. Cold proofing is simply allowing your dough to complete a long rise in the fridge in order for flavor to fully develop. It’s something that bakers and pastry chefs always do that is often skipped over in home-baking style recipes and I think it makes a really big difference in your final product. If are absolutely pinched for time, you can skip the overnight cold proof (see the recipe notes), but I highly recommend you don’t. The difference is a cinnamon roll where flavor comes from the dough, the filling and the frosting as opposed to one where the filling and frosting takes spotlight and the dough is just a cinnamon-sugar vessel. Try it once for yourself and taste the difference!

filling and frosting

The rest of this cinnamon roll recipe is familiar. The dough is rolled out and filled with a cinnamon, butter, tahini, spice mixture. It is rolled and shaped into a tight log and cute little swirls are sliced, proofed, and baked.

The frosting is a real show-stopper. Brown some butter, chill it, and then beat it into a classic cream cheese frosting. Swoop it all on top of warm cinnamon rolls so that oozes down into the crevices and then eat them immediately with lots of coffee and soak up all that autumnal goodness.

Yield

12

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

35 Min

Inactive time

12 Hour

Total time

13 H & 4 M

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Tahini Orange Cinnamon Rolls with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These warm, buttery cinnamon rolls are filled with cinnamon sugar, tahini, and a bit of orange zest. They are topped with an addictive browned butter and cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

for the dough

• 70 g (1/3 cup) buttermilk
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 345 g (2 3/4 cup) all purpose flour
• 40 g (2 tbsp + 1 tsp) granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• Zest of one orange
• 2 eggs
• 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

for the filling

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 10 g tahini
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp cardamom
• Zest of one orange
• Pinch of salt

for the frosting

• 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

to make the dough

1. Heat buttermilk until warm to the touch. Combine warmed milk and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Let proof for about 5 minutes, until foamy, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all purpose flour salt, and sugar. Set aside.
3. Lightly beat eggs and then add them to the mixer with the milk and yeast. Stir with a rubber spatula to gently combine.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid and begin mixing, starting on low speed and gradually increasing speed, for 2-3 minutes, until a thick dough begins to form.
5. With the mixer running on medium-low speed, add the softened butter, one tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Once all of the butter has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and knead for 6-7 minutes, until a smooth, elastic dough has formed. Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead by hand for another minute and then shape the dough into a ball. Place the dough ball into a greased bowl, cover, and let proof at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours, until swollen and almost doubled in size.
6. After the dough has completed its first proof, punch it down and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill overnight, or approximately 12 hours*.

to make the filling

1. Stir together all filling ingredients to form a smooth paste.

filling, shaping, and the final proof

1. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out into a large rectangle, approximately 1/4” thick and about 16”x20”.
3. Dollop the filling over the dough and use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer, reaching all the way to the edges of the dough.
4. Starting from one of the long edges, tightly roll the dough into a log. Use a serrated knife to slice the log into 12 equal pieces. Places rolls cut side down in a 9x13” baking dish. Cover and let proof again for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until rolls are puffy.
5. Bake at 350° F for 30-35 minutes, until deeply golden. Let cool slightly and then frost while warm.

to make the frosting

1. Place butter in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for 6-7 minutes, until nutty and fragrant and little brown bits appear at the bottom of the pot.
2. Transfer browned butter to the fridge and let cool completely.
3. Place cooled browned butter and softened cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until smooth and well combined.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar. Continue mixing for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
5. Spread over warm cinnamon rolls and serve!

Notes:

• If you are pressed for time, you can skip the overnight rest in the fridge and substitute it with a 30 minute chill. Completing a long cold proof helps flavor develop in enriched doughs like this one, so I HIGHLY recommend that you work it in, if possible, but it can be skipped if needed.
• The sweetness of a frosting is highly subjective, so I recommend starting with a lower measurement of powdered sugar, tasting as you go, and adding more bit by bit until you reach your ideal sweetness level. If at any point, the frosting gets too thick, you can loosen it with a teaspoon or two of heavy cream or milk.

Similar Recipes

Cinnamon Swirl Brioche

Einkorn Pecan Sticky Buns

Browned Butter and Spelt Cinnamon Buns

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it #gatheredatmytable

Gingerbread Cake with Molasses and Turmeric Cream Cheese Frosting

When I originally started brainstorming my 12 Days of Christmas Desserts, this recipe was supposed to be my traditional one. In my little notebook, I actually have written down “classic gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting”. I wouldn’t say that this cake is classic, but it’s definitely Anna. What can I say? I can’t help myself.

While not exceptionally classic, there are some really fun flavors at play in this cake and it’s still a very simple recipe. An ultra-moist, blending method cake gets loaded with grated fresh ginger and carob molasses and then topped with a semi-traditional cream cheese frosting, spiked with a little turmeric. Sprinkling the whole thing with toasted pecans and candied ginger feels a little festive and so while is this is decidedly not a traditional gingerbread cake, it’s a very fun one.

Gingerbread Cake with Carob Molasses and Tumeric Cream Cheese Frosting

makes one 9x13” cake

Ingredients

for the cake 

2 1/2 cups (300 g) all purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated (from a piece about 1”)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup carob molasses (or regular molasses)

3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (55 g) brown sugar

1 cup (200 g) neutral oil

3/4 cup (170 g) warm water

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tbsp vanilla extract

for the frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened

4 oz (113 g) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp turmeric*

toasted pecans, optional

candied ginger, optional

Procedure 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 9x13” baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and fresh ginger. Set aside.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together eggs, molasses, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, orange juice, and oil until smooth and combined.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir together until incorporated. Gradually whisk in the warm water until batter is smooth and loose.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and the center of the cake is set. Let cool.

6. To make the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and continue to beat until mixture is smooth and homogenous. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and tumeric, and continue to beat until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

7. Spread frosting on cooled cake and sprinkle with toasted pecans and candied ginger.

Notes:

-If turmeric isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to leave it out completely. The measurement listed in the recipe errs on the side of caution in that there is a faint turmeric flavor but not enough to scare people off. If I were making this cake just for myself, I’d probably up to 1 tsp in order for the flavor to really come through. Choose your own adventure. :)

-If you don’t have carob molasses, you can just sub in regular ‘ole molasses and get a slightly less chocolatey, more classic gingerbread flavor.

more recipes like this

soft ginger cookies

go to recipe

salted honey and banana snack cake

go to recipe

hawaij snickerdoodles

go to recipe