This carrot cake packs a lot of flavors and textures in! It is a small 9" cake but it is mighty! With carrots, nuts, raisins, citrus and of course sweet maple syrup, this dessert is bursting with flavor and is a rich, dense cake. There is a lot of versatility with this cake as well. If you don't like almonds, try another nut! Or ditch the nut all together. Same with the raisins. If you are looking for a carrot cake with flavor out of this world - this one is it!
Ingredients:
Cake
1 cup pure Brantview Farms Maple syrup, room temperature
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup finely ground almonds (or another nut)
1 T baking powder
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups finely grated carrots
1 cup raisins
finely grated orange peel
Frosting
12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2/3 cup pure Brantview Farms Maple syrup, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp finely grated lemon peel
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" cake pan. Use electric mixer to beat the eggs on high for 1 minute. Continue to beat, gradually adding maple syrup, oil, sour cream, lemon juice, and extracts.
In a separate bowl, combine flours. Then stir in almonds, baking powder, spices, salt and orange peel. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into dry; combine. Stir just until smooth then fold in the carrots and raisins.
Place batter into cake pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until test toothpick comes clean and cake is baked through. Cool cake on a wire rack, then frost. Keep cake refrigerated due to cream cheese in frosting.
Recipe by Northwestern PA Maple Syrup Producers Association, 1991
