Cutie Carrot Cake
Carrot cake with a twist! Whole wheat flour and cuties instead of pineapples make this carrot cake a little more unique.
Carrot cake with a twist! Whole wheat flour and cuties instead of pineapples make this carrot cake a little more unique.
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 4 large eggs
- dry ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt i use sea salt
- 2 teaspoons nutmeg i like to grind my own and use one nut but pre ground is ok
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- wet ingredients
- 1 pound salted butter softened
- 3/4 cup honey i use raw
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract non artificial
- 1 1/2 cups cuties and or mandarin oranges if using canned mandarin pour off juice. i zest the skin of 2 cuties but think orange zest would be fine too. i then chop all the oranges into small bits after skinning that is.
- 2 cups carrots finely shred 3 or 4 large carrots
- optional ingredients
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans chopped or broken
- cream cheese frosting
- 1 pound salted butter softened
- 1 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar i hate the taste of powdered sugar :x
- 1 tsp vanilla extract non artificial
- Carbohydrate 99.045181295516 g
- Cholesterol 382.547047166667 mg
- Fat 107.757484702682 g
- Fiber 4.04611607936049 g
- Protein 11.610813635662 g
- Saturated Fat 61.197674209366 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (346g)
- Sodium 1527.42434473466 mg
- Sugar 94.9990652161555 g
- Trans Fat 9.36339047112399 g
- Calories 1373 calories
Step-by-step
- First of all gather all your ingredients before hand so you have no surprises :)
- Shred you carrots
- Turn your oven to 350*
- Cream your butter and brown sugar
- Measure the remaining 7 dry ingredients into a separate bowl and whisk to blend well and set aside.
- Add honey to your butter mixture continue to cream a bit longer
- Lower your speed and blend in your 4 eggs
- Add vanilla extract
- Add cuties plus zest (and/or mandarine oranges)
- Add the dry mixture to the wet on a low mix speed, adding a half cup at a time until all in.
- Scrape your bowl several times making sure to lossen any ingredients from the bottom.
- Mix well but don't beat it up!
- Gently fold in your carrots by half cup at a time. low mixer would be ok.
- Add nuts if you are going to be using them.
- Bake - I bake this in a rubberized bunt pan at 350 for around 40 min. Be sure to check for doneness at 30 min using a wooden toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean it's done.
- Cool in pan for 10 min before turning it out onto wire and then to plate.
- You can also make cup cakes filling your paper lined muffin pan 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 15 min or so.
- I ice with cream cheese frosting while it's still slightly warm so it drizzles a little.
- Cream Cheese Frosting-
- Cream together softened butter and sugar
- Add softened cream cheese and vanilla
- whip until well blended.
Swapping canned pineapple for chopped mandarin oranges introduces a distinct brightness and changes the structural moisture content of the crumb. Citrus segments add localized pockets of juice rather than the uniform dampness of crushed fruit, requiring careful attention during mixing to prevent the batter from breaking. Whole wheat flour brings a nutty backbone and higher protein content, which absorbs more liquid than standard all-purpose flour and yields a denser, sturdier structure capable of supporting heavy mix-ins like grated carrots and chopped nuts. Whisking the dry ingredients separately ensures the leavening agents distribute evenly through the heavier whole grain particles, preventing pockets of unreacted baking soda. When grating the carrots, use the finer holes of a box grater rather than a coarse shredder; smaller filaments soften completely during the thirty to forty minutes in the oven, whereas thick shreds remain crunchy and disrupt the uniform mouthfeel of the slice. Incorporating the grated vegetables by hand with a spatula prevents overworking the gluten network, keeping the crumb tender despite the heavy load of butter and honey. For the frosting, creaming the softened butter and granulated sugar thoroughly before adding the cream cheese prevents the mixture from turning grainy or separating. Letting the baked cake cool in the pan for precisely ten minutes allows the starches to set enough for safe inversion onto a wire rack without tearing the delicate exterior.
