Olive Oil Carrot Cake With Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

A wonderfully moist and not too rich carrot cake. Many recipes may add nuts to batter. Personally, I love them but a few folks I entertain cannot eat whole nuts because of compromised digestive systems. The answer - leave the nuts out of the mix and set out a bowl with nuts so guests can add them as they like or cover just a portion of the top.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 cup organic sugar

• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

• 3/4 cup light extra virgin olive oil

• 2 cups flour, sifted

• 2 tsp. cinnamon

• 3/4 tsp. nutmeg

• 2 T. baking soda

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 1/2 lbs carrots peeled and grated. You can use leftover carrot pulp from juicing too.

• 4 large eggs at room temperature

• 2 T. vanilla

• 1/4 cup rum or whiskey rum or whiskey will add moisture and richness but can be omitted for water if you prefer

• olive oil for the pans

For the frosting

• 2, 8 oz packages cream cheese softened

• 1/2 cup honey

• 1 T. grated lemon zest

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• walnuts or edible blossoms for garnish

Instructions

1. Position rack to middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°. Oil two 9 x 2 inch cake pans with olive oil and line the bottoms of each with parchment paper.

For the cake

1. In medium bowl combine dry ingredients - flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt — set aside.

2. Put both sugars and olive oil in large bowl and set aside.

3. In small bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork, stir in vanilla and set aside….there’s a lot of setting aside here. Beat the sugar mixture by hand or with a mixer on low until well combined—2-3 minutes, it will look like wet sand.

4. Add in ½ the dry ingredients and combine thoroughly. Continuing adding in dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed.

5. Stir in carrots and rum, if you didn’t drink it already. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes.

6. Divide the batter between the cake pans, bake for 35-40 or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Run a knife around the inside of the pans to release the cakes, with the help of a plate or a rack flip cakes out of pan and remove parchment. Cool completely.

For the frosting

1. Whip softened cream cheese, honey, cream and zest on high for 1-2 minutes.

2. Spread frosting over one cake top and layer the over it. Finish frosting as desired. Garnish nuts or seasonal edible flowers.

Energetics & Recipe Highlights

Carrots nourish the digestive system and enter the Spleen, Stomach, Liver and Lungs.

Read more on the nutrition benefits of carrots here.