Italian Carrot Cake
User Reviews
5
Italian Carrot Cake
Description
The Italian Carrot Cake features a batter including all-purpose flour, baking powder and soda, warm spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, along with kosher salt. Moisture and richness come from Greek yogurt, light olive oil, granulated and brown sugars, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract. The shredded carrots and toasted chopped hazelnuts are folded into the batter before dividing it into two greased pans to bake until a cake tester comes out clean.
The cake layers are cooled fully before assembling with mascarpone-based frosting made creamy with heavy cream, granulated sugar, almond extract, and lemon juice. Whole roasted hazelnuts can top the finished cake. The texture is moist and tender with a gentle crumb, while the spices and nuts provide aromatic depth.
This cake works well as a dessert or special occasion treat, and storing it in the fridge helps keep it moist. It can be sliced and frozen for longer storage and gives many substitution options such as gluten-free flour or cream cheese for mascarpone. Roasting hazelnuts with skins on preserves their flavor, but removing loose skins after roasting is optional.
Greasing pans well and cooling the layers completely before frosting helps achieve a smooth final presentation.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 310 g
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 7 g
- 1 teaspoon baking soda 6 g
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 4 g
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger 2 g
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 3 g
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt whole, 124 g
- 1/4 cup olive oil 2 oz or 51 g, light
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 116g
- 1/2 cup applesauce 118 g, or unsweetened, homemade
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar 179 g
- 4 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups carrot shredded
- 1 1/3 cup hazelnuts divided, 5.75 oz, whole, raw
- butter to grease pans, or cooking spray
Mascarpone Frosting
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese or cream cheese
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar 156 g
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Prep Hazelnuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add hazelnuts to a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.Once hazelnuts are cooled, chop. Keep a couple whole for final cake topping, if desired. (See recipe notes) Grease cake pans and set aside.
- Create Cake Batter: Whisk sugars, vanilla extract, eggs, oil, applesauce, and yogurt in a large bowl using a whisk or just a fork. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium-sized bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing with a spatula, and mix until just combined, do not overmix. Fold in the shredded carrots and 2/3 of the chopped hazelnuts.
- Bake: Add batter to the greased cake pans, splitting the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the center pulls clean with a cake tester.
- Let Cool Completely: Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes before gently removing them from the pans to finish cooling on cooling racks.
- Make Frosting: Add all of the frosting ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and blend with a hand mixer until thick and creamy. Approximately 2 minutes.
- Frost the cake: Once completely cool, use a long serrated knife (like a bread knife) to gently trim the rounded top of one of the cakes so that it is flat. Place it upon either a cake decorating stand or whatever plate you will be storing the cake on.Add about 1/3 of the frosting to the top of the flattened topped cake and spread it in a thick and even layer. See recipe notes.Gently place the other cake, rounded side up and flat side down on top of the now frosted cake on the plate. Finish frosting the cake however you please. The frosting recipe will make enough to be able to fully cover the whole cake but you can frost it as much as you'd like.
- Garnish: Use the remaining hazelnuts to garnish around the edge of the top of the cake, or however you wish. Add the reserved whole hazelnuts to the center of the cake with some shredded carrot, if desired.
Notes
- Store the cake covered in the refrigerator to preserve moisture; use a cake plate cover if available.
- Slice and wrap cake pieces well to freeze for up to 3 months.
- Substitute a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend to make the cake gluten-free.
- Use unsweetened homemade or store-bought applesauce; adjust spices if store-bought is less spiced.
- Choose light olive oil or a neutral oil to avoid overpowering olive flavor.
- Roast hazelnuts with skins on; remove loose skins by rubbing nuts after cooling if desired.
- Use cream cheese if mascarpone is unavailable.
- Grease pans well for easy cake removal and allow cakes to cool completely before frosting.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 12slices
Amount Per Serving
Calories 503 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 503kcal | 25% |
| Carbohydrates | 60g | 20% |
| Protein | 10g | 20% |
| Fat | 26g | 40% |
| Saturated Fat | 11g | 55% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 2g | 12% |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 8g | 40% |
| Trans Fat | 0.01g | 1% |
| Cholesterol | 97mg | 32% |
| Sodium | 303mg | 13% |
| Potassium | 255mg | 5% |
| Fiber | 3g | 12% |
| Sugar | 38g | 76% |
| Vitamin A | 4214IU | 84% |
| Vitamin C | 3mg | 3% |
| Calcium | 135mg | 14% |
| Iron | 2mg | 11% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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