If I had to pick my spirit animal it would be a rabbit. Why? Because I am so in love with carrots. I love the crunch, I love the color, I love it with peanut butter (weird I know) or hummus. Absolutely loveeee my little orange friends. I don’t think my fridge has ever NOT been stocked full of carrots. Carrots not only add a wonderful sweetness to baked goods or stews; they also add color and vibrance – it just is the perfect addition to everything.
Today I’m introducing the ULTIMATE carrot-packed treat: The classic carrot cake. Yes you’re probably wondering WHY it took us so long to even make one, but I guess the answer is simple -I needed a perfect recipe. Yes perfect in all sense: from taste, to texture, to convenience and also nutrition. I needed a recipe that I could enjoy guilt-free. To make this easier, we actually have you:
1) BOIL the carrots for this cake. And that was not a mistake, YES you heard me correctly, BOIL. The reason is so (a) you don’t spend endless hours grating (b) it acts as a sweetener/binder.
2) The second important part about this recipe is that instead of “folding in” pineapple chunks, we actually have you blend it in for additional sweetness and for enhancing the moist texture!
You could probably slather this with cream cheese frosting, but even as a standalone this is phenomenal. I’m pretty sure Raena and I finished 2 loaves of carrot cake in a SINGLE week between the two of us. (well a week is an understatement, lets just say it was 4 days).
I’m still dreaming about this phenomenal carrot cake. I was practically salivating over the phone when Zoe sent me these gorgeous pictures. Its hard not to be hungry while you’re writing these blog posts, so I opted for the second best fall treat – a roasted Japanese sweet potato 😉 to tie me over.
Tips:
1) If you want a taller carrot cake I would recommend using a smaller loaf pan. You can tell from the variations of our pictures that we’ve experimented with different sizes and they all work perfectly well! Aesthetically a smaller loaf pan would work!
2) You can also use your favorite nuts – pecans or walnuts. if you are allergic to nuts you may omit this although I do highly recommend it if you are not!
3) Add additional spices like allspice or ground cloves to your liking! Make this your own favorite carrot cake.
***One Caveat: It is made with coconut flour, so if you’re not a fan of coconut flour then you might not be a fan of this version. However if you’re down to try coconut flour – Â trust me – it is a delicious cake that is pillowy and soft, cinnamon-y and just divine. The great thing about coconut flour is that it literally just powdered coconut so its nutritious and healthy! You also use a lot of less of it because coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid. Furthermore, its quite filling actually, so its a win-win situation all the way.
- ¾ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup tapioca starch (or cornstarch if not grain free)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup diced carrots (128g)
- ½ cup pineapple chunks (from a can, drained) (122g)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ginger
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- ⅓ cup walnuts, finely chopped (39g)
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a loaf pan (9" x 4" / 8" x 4") with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, mix coconut flour, tapioca starch and baking soda.
- Transfer carrots to a pan, cover with water and cook until soft (about 10 mins). You know it is ready when you can pierce a fork through easily.
- Drain carrots, briefly run under cold water. Add to a blender with all the remaining ingredients (except the walnuts). Blend till smooth.
- Add in the wet carrot mixture and fold till well combined.
- Stir in chopped walnuts.
- Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake for 40-45 mins. Cool and slice!
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