There’s nothing better than cake but more cake.
Harry S Truman
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When doing research on the history of Carrot Cake we found out that many food historians believe that carrot Cake originate from such a thing as carrot pudding that was eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages, when sugar and sweeteners were expensive, and many people used carrots as a substitute for sugar. Variations of carrot pudding evolved to include baking a crust like pumpkin pie steamed with a sauce or molded in pans as pudding with icing added on top.
Another 19th Century recipe comes from the housekeeping school of Kaiseraugust Aargau, Switzerland. According to the culinary heritage of Switzerland it is one of the most popular cakes in Switzerland, especially for birthdays of children.
The popularity of Carrot Cake was revived in the United Kingdom because of rationing during World War Two.
Carrot Cake is a cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter. Most modern carrot cakes recipe have a white cream cheese frosting. Sometimes nuts such as walnuts or pecans are added into the cake batter, as well as spices such as cinnamon, ginger, and ground mixes spice. Fruit including pineapple, raisins, and shredded coconut can also be used as a natural sweetness.
Pictured above is the original recipe card that was given to The Blade from his grandma Philipina. As you can see that recipe card has gotten great use over the years. We usually pull this carrot cake recipe out quite a few times in a year.
You will find that this cake is going to be one of your favorites after making it just one time. This carrot cake recipe is the perfect cake for any occasion or even non occasion. It’s what we call a very down home, comfort food type of desert.
Ingredients
2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups shredded coconut
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup of crushed pineapple
Oven temperature 350
Baking time one hour
When we bake cakes, we love the presentation of a round layered cake. We have baked this carrot cake recipe in many different size pans from 9-inch round layer pans that is pictured above, 9 by 13 pan, cupcake pans, mini cupcake pan, small bunt cake pan, you get the idea. Pictured are our 9-inch round cake pans that have been in our family since I can remember my mom baking cakes. The bottom of the pans is removable to ensure ease of removing the baked cake rounds.
Utensils
Measuring cup for dry ingredients
Measuring cup for wet ingredients
Measuring Spoons
Wire Whisk
Box Grater
Mixing Bowl
Rubber Spatula
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
We recommend gathering all your ingredients that you will need to execute a recipe. Measure each ingredient and set them aside until the recipe calls for that ingredient. By doing this it will help keep you organized, and clean-up will be very easy.
When a recipe calls for eggs always break the eggs into an empty bowl to ensure there is no shell left behind with the broken egg that you will be putting into the recipe. Nothing worse that biting into eggshell.
In a mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, shredded coconut, shredded carrots, and pecans. Mix the dry ingredients together with a whisk a fork.
In another bowl add your eggs and whisk them until broken and mixed. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla, crushed pineapple, and stir those ingredients together. When the wet ingredients are well mixed, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until the dry and wet ingredients are well incorporated.
When making a layer cake or cupcakes or any other baked cake that needs to be divided among baking vessels it is a good idea to measure or weigh out the batter for each portion. In the photo above you can see that we are using a one cup measuring cup to fill the cake pans with the carrot cake batter. This will ensure the layers will be equal sizes and balance the layers when they are stacked.
Bake the cakes in in an oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the rounds comes out clean. We do not grease and flour the pans for this cake due to the fact that the cake is super moist and have never had one stick the bottom or the edge of the cake pan. But if you want to be extra cautious you sure could spray the pans with food release.
Orange Cream Cheese Cake Frosting
Who doesn’t like cream cheese everything? Cream cheese frosting is the only frosting we have ever made to adorn the top, sides and the middle of this carrot cake. The orange zest that is added to the frosting gives it another flavor profile that is irresistible.
Ingredients
2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 8-ounce packs of cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups of confectioners sugar sifted
2 teaspoons of grated orange zest
1 pinch of salt
We double the cream cheese frosting recipe to ensure we have plenty to cover the whole cake and a nice thick layer a frosting in between the layers of cake.
Utensils
Microplane
Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer
Rubber Spatula
Cake Plate
Instructions
Place the butter in a mixing bowl and beat at high speed until fluffy.
Add the cream cheese to the butter and mix until fluffy.
Add the confectioners sugar and orange zest and salt and mix two to three more minutes.
Parchment Paper is a wonderful tool to use when applying frosting to a layer cake. The photo above shows how we lined the cake plate with sheets of parchment paper before applying that ice the frosting to ensure frosting would stay on the cake and not get smeared onto the cake plate. Using the parchment paper in this way will help for a perfect presentation!
The Offset Spatula offset spatula that is being used in the photos above is an awesome tool to use to put frosting on a cake. If you prefer you could use a pastry bag with a decorative tip. That would be a great way to apply the frosting to make the cakes look a bit fancier.
We highly encourage you to give this cake a try. Especially if you’re having company and don’t have time for a big fussy dessert. This carrot cake will fool everybody into thinking this it was a time intensive labor of love. This carrot cake recipe is also excellent to prepare for a potluck or making cupcakes for a bake sale. We usually make this carrot cake at Easter time and at Thanksgiving time to bring to our family potluck, it’s always a huge hit. After you bake this cake let us know what you thought about it. Or if you have any questions or concerns let us know we’ll get back to you as soon as we see your message.
Enjoy!