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Curly Carrot Cake

A deliciously light and not-too-sweet addition to your Easter table! Four layers of moist carrot cake, filled with a cream cheese frosting, and topped with a towering pile of candied carrot curls. A showstopper Easter dessert!
Prep Time50 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time2 hours
Servings: 10 servings
Author: Vicki @ Passionate Baker

Ingredients

for the cake

  • 180 g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 large eggs
  • 170 g caster sugar
  • 100 g light brown sugar
  • 150 g salted butter, melted but cool
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 250 g finely grated carrots, drained
  • 150 g apple sauce

for the cream cheese frosting

  • 100 g salted butter, at room temperature
  • 300 g full fat cream cheese
  • 195 g icing sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

for the candied carrot curls

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup caster sugar
  • 2 large carrots, peeled

Instructions

for the cake

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C, and grease + flour two 6-inch cake tins. Set aside. 
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate and cinnamon. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to beat together the eggs and sugars until fluffy & light in colour. Add the melted butter and vanilla extract, and continue to beat until fully combined. 
  • Add the dry ingredients into the batter and use a rubber spatula to fold it in until the mixture is just combined. 
  • Add the carrots and apple sauce to the batter & use the spatula to stir together until just combined. 
  • Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins & bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 15 minutes in the tins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

for the cream cheese frosting

  • In a medium bowl, beat the butter until pale & fluffy. Add all of the other ingredients, beat until smooth, and place in the fridge until ready to use.

for the candied carrot curls

  • Preheat the oven to 100°C & line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Use a vegetable peeler to peel thin long strips of carrot – the longer the better; they’re easier to curl!
  • In a medium pot, bring the sugar & water to a boil. Add the carrot strips, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 15-minutes. Remove from the heat, drain the carrots, and leave to cool for 5-minutes.
  • Stretch the carrot strips out on the prepared baking tray and bake for 25-minutes, making sure they don't burn.
  • Working very quickly and carefully, remove the carrot strips from the tray one by one & wrap them around the handle of a wooden spoon before sliding off onto a cold plate. Repeat with the remaining strips. They start to get cold very quickly, so this need to be speedy but efficient work. 

to assemble

  • Using a serrated knife, cut each of the cake layers in half, giving you four even thin layers.
  • Place one layer of cake directly onto the cake stand, spread a layer of frosting smoothly across the top of the layer, and repeat until you've used up all the layers.
  • Spread a thin layer of frosting all around the cake, place the whole thing in the fridge for 15-minutes ( the crumb coat ), and then it comes out use the remaining frosting to properly frost the outside of the cake.
  • Pile the candied carrot curls on top of the cake and enjoy!