Layers of moist carrot cake loaded with goodies and a surprise for a nice deep flavor coated in cream cheese frosting is a cake lover’s dream come true! This recipe is straight from the queen of cakes herself, Maida Heatter.
I figured I might as well start this post with a review from my grandma. She said this cake was the best carrot cake she’s had and it almost made her purr.
Now that’s saying something! Enough maybe even. Post finished.
When I saw this recipe in Maida Heatter’s Cakes book, I know I had to give it a go. There was an unusual ingredient for carrot cake in the mix.
This carrot cake recipe has a tablespoon of cocoa powder in it. Yep, in a carrot cake.
It really isn’t enough to taste as chocolate, but I am sure it helps give that dark color and probably adds to the depth of flavor as well. No matter what it’s purpose, this cake is delicious.
I honestly wasn’t 100% sure how this was going to go. Maida’s ingredient list asked for 1 lb of carrots or 4 packed cups.
I was using bits and pieces of bags of carrots, so I opted to measure rather than weigh. Probably a mistake. It took a lot more carrots than it should have to make the 4 cups.
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I would guess I used closer to a pound and a half. It made for a more dense cake than it probably would have been otherwise. But they baked well, turned out cleanly and ate like a dream.
I am sure I would have got more rise with fewer carrots, but I’m not sure I wouldn’t do it the same way next time. I hope somebody else baked this cake so I can see how theirs turned out.
Maida offered instructions on making marzipan carrots from scratch. It would have been really fun to try, but I didn’t have the time to go for it.
Nuts are always a pretty garnish, but then half of my guests wouldn’t have even given it a try. The problem is the cake needed something!
So, I ground up a few graham cracker and sprinkled them on. Next time I’d probably make a little more cream cheese frosting and pipe it on instead, but as always I had a group coming over and more food to make so I went for quick and easy this time!
Maida’s Carrot Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 pound carrots
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 1¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ cups walnut pieces
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 oz cream cheese softened
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Cake
- First, steam the 1 cup raisins. Place them in a steamer basket or small strainer in a pot with a bit of water in the bottom. (The water shouldn’t touch the raisins.) Boil over high heat for 10 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside.
- Process the 1 pound carrots into fine shreds.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare three 9-inch cake pans. Either butter and flour the pans or use the baking spray with the flour in it and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat the 4 eggs just to mix.
- Add the 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup dark brown sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1¼ cup vegetable oil. Beat until fully incorporated.
- Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Stir in the carrots, raisins, and 1½ cups walnut pieces if using.
- Divide batter between the 3 prepared pans and spread to even it out.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes. The edges should be just pulling away from the pan and the top should spring back when lightly pressed.
- Cool for 2-3 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack. Cool completely and then freeze right on the wire racks. They are too moist to handle at this point otherwise. Freeze for at least an hour before assembling the cake. However, once frozen, you can wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.
Frosting
- Beat together the 16 oz cream cheese and ½ cup butter until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix in on low until incorporated. Then turn the mixer to high and beat for until smooth.
Assembly
- Place a frozen cake layer on your cake plate. Spread about ⅔ cup of frosting over the cake.
- Repeat with the next layer, more frosting and the final cake layer.
- Spread remaining frosting over the sides and top of cake.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve and serve cold.
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I would never have thought to add cocoa powder to carrot cake. Now I definitely have to try the recipe! My husband's favorite cake is carrot, I'm sure he'd approve of me making him one 😀
Isn't that different? It really worked in there though. I love having these baking assignments each month with a limited list to choose from. It has been a great way to try new things (and a great excuse to bake!)
Thanks Carlee for sharing this wonderful carrot cake at our Cooking and Crafting with J & J.
I love a good carrot cake. I've never thought of grinding crackers for a garnish on cake. What a great idea. That is a ton of carrots too. When I make carrot cake, I use baby food for the carrots. Just the first foods kind, so it's only carrots, but that makes it so much easier.
What a great time saver using the baby food. I definitely ended up going way over on carrots on this one (I don't know why pulling out the food scale seemed like an epic task at the time!) but luckily it worked out anyway!
Cocoa powder?! I guess with only 2 T it is more for color, but interesting.
Isn't that strange? I really think it doesn't do more than add depth of color and maybe a bit deeper flavor, but certainly not chocolate. Whatever it's purpose it worked in there. The cake was delicious!
I loooooove carrot cake! This sounds amazing! YUM! Pinned!
Me too! Thanks!
Hello! I've always wanted to make a carrot cake, it's my husband's favorite. This recipe looks great. I can't wait to try it. Thanks for sharing! Pinning! 😛
I love making carrot cakes! This one was a real winner too. I have another one on the blog (Linda's Famous Carrot Cake) that is scaled to a 9×13 if you prefer going that route! I hope you both enjoy it!
Quick and easy? Well it probably took longer than you thought with having to grate all those carrots, but a cake that can make you purr…perfect! I like the graham cracker decoration, but then I'm already starting to think 'Fall'.
Hee! The graham crackers were the quickest and easiest garnish my feeble mind could think of without making more frosting. It would have been perfect without it, but it needed a little something to dress it up for pictures. It definitely was popular with my family!
I was really curious about the cocoa powder! I'm glad the cake turned out delicious!
It was an interesting ingredient for a carrot cake, but it really turned out nice. I liked the frosting recipe with it too. It was a lot of cream cheese and butter with a minimal amount of powdered sugar. They really went well together.
I do love carrot cake but have a perfect recipe so refuse to try anything that I know could disappoint me. I am a huge fan of extra frosting on cakes, but like the look of your layers. They look so even and cut so nicely. Nice job Carlee!
It is hard when you already have the perfect recipe. Now I'm curious about that! This was a fun one to try. I wasn't sure how my family would feel about the raisins, but one of my brothers commented about how he really liked them in there. I do think if I had it to do over, I'd up the frosting a bit and pipe on an edge or some carrots or something, but it was a rich cake as it was, so that may really be gilding the lily!
It looks good…. I could eat a slice right now!
It really was tasty! I would happily share if it weren't all gone! Oops!