This is a delicious, moist, and fairly healthy carrot cake recipe, with my favorite – cream cheese icing.
It has an unusual addition – grated apples. I love that.
The grated apple adds taste and moisture, while the mix of half white flour and half whole wheat makes it healthier.
Making Cake Healthier
If we’re going to eat cake, a healthy mixture of carrots, raisins, apples, walnuts and whole wheat flour will take away at least a bit of the guilt and will be so much better for you. All of those ingredients are healthy for us. I love to find ways to make something that I consider a treat, just a little healthier.
Using half white flour and half whole wheat flour still keeps the cake nice and light while adding extra fiber and nutritional value to the cake.
This is a fantastic way to get picky kids to eat their fruit and vegetables. Leave off the icing for a much lower sugar dessert – okay maybe not quite as yummy, but having no icing makes the cake a less guilty pleasure. Or just go for it and enjoy!
Moist Carrot Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 cups carrots, grated
- 1 1/2 cups apples, peeled and grated
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup walnuts
Cream Cheese Icing:
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup icing sugar
Instructions
- Mix together the sugar, oil and eggs until the mixture is slightly thickened. Sift the flours together with the soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Add the carrots, apples, raisins and walnuts. Stir until evenly mixed.
- Bake in a greased and floured pan, 9"x13"x2" or a bundt type pan or two round cake pans. Bake at 350ºF for about 35 minutes if using the 13" long pan.
- Always check for doneness by piercing the center of the cake with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it's done.
- If you use the round cake pans, check for doneness about 5 to 10 minutes earlier as they are smaller and you don't want to over bake the cake. On the other hand, if you are baking the cake in a bundt style cake pan check your cake carefully for doneness after 40 minutes and leave it in 5 minutes longer if you need to.
- Let the cake cool and ice with the cream cheese icing below. Blend all of the icing ingredients together and spread over the cooled cake. (see below for glaze instructions)
Notes
- If you are making a layered carrot cake in the round pans and want to put some icing between the layers, you may need to double the icing recipe to make sure you have enough.
- If you prefer a glaze, as in the image above, thin the icing with a little bit of milk until you get the consistency you need to use it as a glaze.
Nutrition
Variation:
- If you want to drizzle the icing on a bundt style cake, like the one in the image on the page here, you will need to make it thinner. Do this by adding warm water to the icing a few drops at a time until it is the right consistency. Don’t add too much water at one time. It’s easier to add a bit more than try to fix runny icing.
- Replace the grated apple with an equal amount of crushed pineapple that has been well drained. It adds a wonderful bit of tropical flavor to the carrot cake recipe and blends well with the carrots and raisins.
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