Can there be a thing as a cake that is too moist? Not sure. Well, this cake is super moist and actually not too bad for you. I found a recipe for carrot cake and I made a few changes to it to make it healthier or more nutritious. I'd have to say, it's probably one of the better cakes that I've had.
By themselves, I'd consider them a healthy treat, but once you slather on that cream cheese frosting, it goes from healthy and heavenly, to simply sinful.
Ingredients
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup crushed pineapple in juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 t vanilla
2 cups whole wheat cake flour
2.5 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 t ground cinnamon
1 pound of grated carrots
1 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground ginger
1/2 c raisins
Procedure
1. Grate the carrots combine with the raisins in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Mix the wet ingredients together in a stand mixer.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
4. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time into the wet ingredients. Scrape down the sides and mix until you no longer see any dry powdery material. You don't want to over mix cake batter. A few lumps are ok.
5. Add the raisins and carrots to the batter and stir by hand with a wooden spoon.
6. Grease and flour an 8" x 11" pan, or two 8" round pans. Or line 20 - 24 cupcake tins with baking cups.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F. until toothpick comes out clean. (I baked 2 8" round pans for about 27 minutes at 345 degrees since I was using a dark pan. ) Cupcakes will take about 22 minutes.
9. Frost/Decorate with cream cheese frosting. Recipe for the easy frosting can be found here.
By themselves, I'd consider them a healthy treat, but once you slather on that cream cheese frosting, it goes from healthy and heavenly, to simply sinful.
Ingredients
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup crushed pineapple in juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 t vanilla
2 cups whole wheat cake flour
2.5 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 t ground cinnamon
1 pound of grated carrots
1 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground ginger
1/2 c raisins
Procedure
1. Grate the carrots combine with the raisins in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Mix the wet ingredients together in a stand mixer.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
4. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time into the wet ingredients. Scrape down the sides and mix until you no longer see any dry powdery material. You don't want to over mix cake batter. A few lumps are ok.
5. Add the raisins and carrots to the batter and stir by hand with a wooden spoon.
6. Grease and flour an 8" x 11" pan, or two 8" round pans. Or line 20 - 24 cupcake tins with baking cups.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F. until toothpick comes out clean. (I baked 2 8" round pans for about 27 minutes at 345 degrees since I was using a dark pan. ) Cupcakes will take about 22 minutes.
9. Frost/Decorate with cream cheese frosting. Recipe for the easy frosting can be found here.
I made this for our Easter dinner. What i did here: I sliced each of the 8 inch disks into 2 disks and spread thin layer of cream cheese frosting between each layer. The top layer is a bit of frosting combined with some shredded coconut, green food coloring, and a splash of milk. There's some chocolate eggs and some decorations made out of vanilla bark piped onto some wax paper. My 5 year old niece made a disappointed face when I told her I put eggs on top of the cake, but when she tried an egg, her face was anything but.