We are very aware that everyone has strong opinions when it comes to carrot cake. Whether it’s about the addition of nuts, raisins, or pineapple, or the spice combination that make your family recipe special, we know that everyone has a favourite version of this classic dessert. My family recipe is rustic and easily has DOUBLE the amount of carrots than most recipes resulting in a super super moist texture. For a festive Easter garnish, we’ve made these pretty candied carrot peels. Kids will love to snack on these and help you arrange them on your cake.
Go ahead, have an extra slice. It’s mostly carrots!
Rainbow Carrot Cake with Candied Carrots
Yield: 8-10
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 1/2 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 cup walnut or pecan pieces, optional
- Pinch of salt
For the icing
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 250g package cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or 1 cup icing sugar, plus more to adjust to taste
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 1/2 lemon, optional
- Pinch of salt
For the candied carrots
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 3 medium sized carrots, various colours
Instructions
Make the candied carrots
- Preheat oven to 225. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel strips of your carrots. Apply a bit of pressure so that strips are not too thin. Once you reach the core, it will become difficult to peel. Set those aside for your cake batter and move onto the next carrot.
- Combine water and sugar in a pot and heat on medium high until you reach a simmer. Add your carrot strips and reduce your heat so that it keeps a simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes or until transparent. Watch carefully and do not walk away. If you are doing different colours of carrots, do this in batches going from lightest in colour to darkest.
- Drain your carrots and arrange on your baking sheet so they don’t touch and are straight. Bake for 20 minutes, until firm but still slightly tacky.
- Remove from oven. Prepare a plate of sugar and add peels to the sugar and toss gently until well coated. If the sugar isn't coating, you can add a little remaining of the sugar syrup to the carrots and then coat in sugar.
Make the cake
- Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 8″ or 9″ cake pan by lining it with parchment paper or coating liberally with oil.
- In a large mixing bowl, add your carrots, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until well combined. In another bowl, sift together your flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry into the wet ingredients and fold until almost entirely combined. This will look like a crazy amount of carrots, but don’t worry! Fold in your chopped nuts.
- Add your batter to the cake pan and flatten the mixture. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. When baked, removed from pan and cool.
Make the icing and assemble
- Using a hand or stand mixer with a whisk attachment, mix your butter and cream cheese until well combine and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add your maple syrup or icing sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest and mix for 1 minute. This icing is not too sweet to balance the candied garnishes. Taste the icing at this point and add icing sugar to your taste if you would like it sweeter.
- When your cake is completely cooled, add your icing on top and use the back of spoon to create dramatic swirls. Arrange your candied carrots on top. Slice and enjoy!
Looks amazing. I am going to try it
Ingredient list has “1 package cream cheese”. How big a package? 4 oz? 8 oz?
250g package
would be nice if you could have a print the recipe format in a smaller size, rather than 3-4 pages
Hi Shirley! We totally agree and we are working on a way to do this. Stay tuned for printer-friendly recipes. Cheers!
Your reply abut printable recipes is appreciated. Please hurry !
Easy to follow and I’m not much a Baker (even though it’s my last name). The cake looks great. Could not find different coloured carrots but still think it looks good. Wish there was a way to send you a photo.
We are so happy to hear that Pamela! We would love to see a photo. You could send it to us on our Facebook page if you are on that platform: https://www.facebook.com/FarmersMarketsNovaScotia
This looks yummy! I always find carrot cake has too much oil so this is perfect. I’m picking up rainbow carrots in my Farmers’ Market order today and I’m saving them for this!
Sounds like fun and I’m going to try it Sunday. The dried carrots will be fun.
Can I make muffins I strd?
Can I make muffins instead?