Carrot Cake with Maple Mascarpone Icing
Well would you look at us! Baking with carrots. Which are vegetables. And vegetables are healthy. That's a fact.
Therefore, this cake is healthy.
Don't question.
Just go with it cookies.
This is the Blue-Eyed Bakers turn at healthy baking. Healthy baking in the form of carrot cake.
Carrots are super for you aren't they? Sure they are. They're full of vitamins. Er and minerals. And they help you see in the dark! Which is helpful if you're ever in a place with no lights, we suppose.
And they're orange, which is rather seasonally appropriate.
Just look at all those lovely veggies.
But all those carrots with their remarkable night vision benefits and vitamins and minerals had to be balanced out somehow. We couldn't let the carrots steal the show. No no, we're fair. It's just our nature.
Soooo we went ahead and slathered on some maple mascarpone icing. Because like those carrots and their festive fall coloring, there's something rather autumnal about maple syrup.
And we're at the fall party now. Come on! Come to the fall party.
We're bringing this healthy cake.
Carrot Cake with Maple Mascarpone Icing
Serves 10
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 1/4 teaspoon baking power
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup ground almonds
4 ounces walnuts, chopped, plus more for garnish
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
10 ounces carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
Salt
For Icing:
4 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup maple syrup
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a loaf pan (or a 9 x 2 square baking pan) and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine butter and brown sugar. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, pulsing after each addition. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger and pulse until combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and add the ground almonds, walnuts and grated carrot and mix together.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then gently fold them into the cake batter. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for about 50 minutes and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a rack and cool completely.
For the icing, beat the mascarpone and cream cheese together until well combined. Add the cinnamon, vanilla and maple syrup. Spread generously over cooled cake and top with additional chopped walnut if desired.
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Reader Comments (15)
You guys have done it again! That looks incredible and I'd rather get my veggies in this way. :)
Your carrot cake looks like the perfect balance of moistness and sweetness. yum.
I love being able to get my vegetables while eating cake!! The marscapone icing is truly the icing on the cake!! Great job ladies!!
I love carrot cake, and carrot cookies, and carrot muffins, and carrot bread. You get the idea. I've always maintained that they are well within my healthy diet. Right? Your cake looks wonderful.
I need this cake in my life like STAT.
I have been craving anything maple!! This looks so very good I will have to try this out.
Yep. I'm in - Carrot cake has vegies in it and they're healthy so therefore this cake is healthy..., 2 slices at least. Love the icing to btw..., sounds yummy.
Pretty! I made a spelt carrot cake a few weeks back & my fiance hasn't shut up about it. I thought it was missing something though. Nuts! I forgot the nuts, how could I?
The mascarpone frosting looks amazing
OMG, that icing looks amazing! The cake too, of course, but the icing... actually, it would be awesome on anything - even just a simple yellow cake could be totally jazed up with that amazingly creamy topping. Yum!
I can just smell the carrot cake now.. everything about this screams 'EAT ME NOW!' :)
yummy i love healthy cakes. all the better to slap on the icing with!
oh my gosh, that looks so good. That icing looks incredible! I love carrot cake, and I agree - it must be healthy! :)
I just saved this as a PDF and put it in my recipe folder! Looks like the perfect thing to make for a dinner party this fall! Love the flavors you put in it :)
Love the recipe and cannot wait to try it. But I think you left out one of the ingredients. You put 'self-rising flour' on the list, but never included it in the batter. A little confusing...
Hi Marci! We did indeed leave it out...sugar coma post likely. We've updated the recipe...you add it in along with all the spices & baking powder. Thanks!