Carrot Cake Day is February 3

You gotta love a day dedicated to cake!

Carrot cake – it’s what’s for breakfast.

In our February creative prompts (on the back page of our newsletter, which is sent out with all orders), February 3 is Carrot Cake Day. Why not bake a carrot cake?

Yesterday I juiced carrots to make carrot juice soap for Marmot Day. (Because marmots eat carrots!) Today I’m using the pulp to make a carrot cake. This is a first for me as usually my goats or chickens are happy to scarf up any pulp when I juice fruits and veggies. I’ve never tried cooking with it.

We shared a recipe in our February newsletter. I will include it here also.

Juicer Pulp Carrot Cake

Recipe from lifeovereasy.com

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ⅓ cups carrot juicer pulp
⅓ cup applesauce
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
¾ cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)

I’m ready to mix up the batter.

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a 13” x 9” cake pan with waxed paper, and grease the paper.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Add the oil, eggs, and vanilla, and beat well. Then fold in the carrot pulp, applesauce, walnuts, coconut, and pineapple. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Place it on the middle rack of the oven and bake until the edges have pulled away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Cake batter in the pan lined with greased parchment paper.

Frosted cake with chopped nuts on top.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Then invert it over a cake rack and unmold. Remove the waxed paper, and continue to cool for 1 hour.

Frost the top and sides of the cooled cake with cream cheese frosting, and dust the top with confectioner’s sugar.

Cream Cheese Frosting for a 13” x 9” cake

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Juice of ¼ lemon

Cream the cream cheese and butter together in a mixing bowl.

Slowly sift in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue beating until fully incorporated (there should be no lumps). Stir in the vanilla and lemon juice.

Notes: I didn’t dust the top of the cake with sugar. Instead, I chopped a handful of walnuts and sprinkled them over it.

This is not the best carrot cake I’ve ever made, but I love that it makes good use of the juicer pulp that often gets thrown away. If you try this recipe, please let us know what you think of it, and post pictures!