Brown Butter Carrot Cake With Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrots are considered one of our favourite greens and I’ll typically make recipes like carrot coulis, carrot salad, or roasted carrots. This selfmade carrot cake is one other technique to take pleasure in all that carrots have to supply. It’s easy to make, moist, and stuffed with scrumptious flavors. 

Years in the past I got here up with a grain and gluten-free carrot cake with pineapple. That recipe used coconut flour and plenty of eggs for protein. Whereas I nonetheless like that recipe and make it every so often, I wished to have one other carrot cake recipe readily available that was extra conventional. 

Carrot Cake Elements

Now that our household contains some natural flour every so often, I’ve been making extra baked items with it. It’s a straightforward technique to make a more healthy dessert that has the identical style and texture as conventional desserts. That doesn’t imply it’s full of sugar, vegetable oils, or different elements I choose to keep away from although!

Carrot cake elements usually embrace flour, sugar, carrots, spices, oil, and eggs. Then there are the non-compulsory mix-ins like raisins, pineapple, and shredded coconut. This recipe could be very comparable, however I’ve opted for uncooked honey as a substitute of sugar. And it makes use of butter as a substitute of vegetable oil. Applesauce provides slightly extra moisture and pure sweetness. 

Want a gluten-free carrot cake? Merely substitute a 1:1 gluten-free flour mix for the natural all-purpose flour. 

Learn how to Make Carrot Cake

The lengthy listing of elements may be intimidating at first, however this actually is a straightforward recipe. You’re principally combining the entire moist elements, then combining the entire dry elements, then including them collectively. Lastly, you’ll stir within the mix-ins like carrots, raisins, and coconut. 

There may be the extra step of browning the butter first, which actually provides an additional layer of taste to the cake. Browned butter tastes so much like caramel, however with out the additional sugar. 

Tip: If you’re browning the butter, you’ll want to hold an in depth eye on it. It must be faraway from the range after it’s browned, however earlier than it’s gotten actually darkish brown (aka burnt). As a result of burnt butter carrot cake will not be scrumptious. 

Cream Cheese Frosting For Carrot Cake (With out Refined Sugar)

Carrot cake wouldn’t be what it’s with out the long-lasting cream cheese frosting. It provides a pleasant tang to the sweetness, so the dessert isn’t overwhelmingly candy. Most cream cheese frosting recipes name for powdered sugar to assist thicken and make it spreadable. My model makes use of uncooked honey for sweetness and butter for a buttercream frosting consistency.  I choose honey on this recipe, however maple syrup would style good too. 

As an alternative of powdered sugar to thicken, I used arrowroot starch (often known as arrowroot flour). It helps to thicken with out making the frosting tremendous candy. Begin with 2 Tablespoons of arrowroot and add extra as wanted to get the fitting consistency. You need it to be thick sufficient it gained’t fall down the cake, however not so thick that it’s troublesome to unfold. 

Completely different Pan Choices

This cake is 4 layers excessive as a result of I just like the look of the additional layers. Should you don’t have 4 6-inch cake pans, then two 9-inch spherical pans will even work. Merely change the bake time to 30-35 minutes if utilizing 9-inch pans. If you wish to make cupcakes, then bake for 18-22 minutes.

You would additionally make a sheet pan carrot cake, however I haven’t personally tried it. Let me know if you happen to do! Should you’re craving carrot cake or want a flowery (however straightforward!) spring dessert, then give this carrot cake a strive. 

Does Carrot Cake Must Be Refrigerated?

Since this recipe makes use of cream cheese, any leftovers ought to be refrigerated. I’ve additionally discovered that desserts/muffins made with applesauce or different fruit as a sweetener spoil quicker at room temperature. How lengthy does it final within the fridge? Nicely, so long as your loved ones doesn’t eat it immediately, it should final for as much as per week!

It tastes greatest at room temperature although, so I like to drag it out and let the slice heat up earlier than consuming. 

Can You Freeze Carrot Cake? 

Sure, and no. Some suggest freezing the unfrosted and cooled cake layers or particular person slices. They’ll final for about 2-3 months within the freezer this fashion. It’s not beneficial to freeze a complete, frosted carrot cake. The frosting can crack and it might not look as fairly, however it should nonetheless be tasty. Simply you’ll want to use an hermetic container to stop freezer burn. 

What are a few of your favourite carrot recipes? Depart a remark and tell us!