Homemade Carrot Cake with Raisins

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5 out of 5 Stars by 2 readers!

Carrot cake is a delicious and moist treat made with freshly grated carrots. This tasty and rich spice cake is best eaten warm or fresh out of the oven. Top with cream cheese frosting or serve with ice cream!


Carrot cake is a delicious and flavourful cake made with grated carrots. The grated carrots give the cake a lovely orange colour, moistness, sweetness, and a bit of chewiness. Carrot cake is said to have originated in Europe during the middle ages when sugar was in short supply and carrots or beets were used instead since they were naturally sweet.

In India, depending on which part of the country you are in, you get different kinds of carrots. In Northern India, you get lovely purple carrots. We being in Mumbai, get the regular orange carrots throughout the year (you know the hybrid engineered variety that we often refer to as English carrots) and the red moist carrots at wintertime. And these local Asian red moist carrots are the ones we use for gajar halwa and even for carrot cake. Carrots have a lot of health benefits, which technically makes this cake a lot healthier than your regular cakes. And even if it being healthier turns out to be just an excuse, does it really matter? Homemade carrot cakes are delicious!

Now everyone has a family recipe for carrot cake. Here’s ours! Why not try this easy carrot cake recipe at home and have your family eat some delicious carrot cake too?

What Ingredients Do You Need For Carrot Cake?

To make carrot cake, you will require fresh red carrots, butter, sugar, maida or all-purpose flour, sojee or semolina, eggs, ginger powder, cinnamon powder, baking powder, salt, and raisins.

Note: If you don’t have red carrots, you can use the orange carrots, but in that case, increase the amount of sugar you add to the cake batter.

How To Make Carrot cake

Grate the carrots and keep them aside for later. Add room temperature butter to a vessel. Mix sugar with the butter and cream well.

A slab of butter in a steel vessel.
Butter
Sugar and butter in a vessel with a spoon.
Add sugar to butter
Sugar and butter mixed together in a vessel with a spoon.
Cream the butter and sugar

Next, add the semolina. Then mix the maida with the baking powder and fine salt and add that as well.

Semolina added to a mixture of butter and sugar in a vessel.
Add sojee to the mixture
All purpose flour added to a vessel.
Add maida
A mix of butter sugar and flour in a vessel.
Mix the ingredients

Ginger powder and cinnamon powder come next.

Ginger and cinnamon powder added to a vessel with dry batter.
Add ginger powder and cinnamon powder

Beat the eggs and add them to the cake mix. This carrot cake is dense, so there’s no need to separate the whites and the yolks.

7 eggs in a vessel.
Eggs to be beaten
Beanted eggs being poured in a vessel with batter.
Add the beaten eggs
Cake batter in a vessel with a spoon and whisk.
Mix the batter

Mix the batter well and lastly add the raisins and finally the grated carrots.

Raisins added to cake batter in a vessel with a whisk.
Add Raisins
Grated carrots added to a vessel with batter.
Add grated carrots
Grated carrots and raisins in cake batter.
Mix the grated carrots into the batter

Prepare your cake tins by lining them with baking paper. As you can see, we keep the wrapping paper of butter slabs and use these to line our tins. It’s just common sense and economical.

A round cake tin lined with butter paper.
Line the tins with baking paper

Pour the cake batter into lined cake tins and bake in a preheated oven for about 50 minutes at 180 degrees Celcius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit. But adjust according to your weather and oven.

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Carrot cake batter in a round tin with baking paper.
Fill the batter in the tins
Square cake tin filled with batter.
Cake batter ready to be baked
3 cake tins filled with carrot cake batter in a line.
Carrot cake batter in tins

And your carrot cake is ready! We made a square cake, a round cake, and a bundt cake. This carrot cake tastes delicious when eaten warm fresh out of the oven!

Baked Carrot bundt cake with baking paper.
Bundt cake with lining
Square carrot cake in a plate.
Doesnt it look delicious
Carrot cake with baking paper on a tray.
Warm delicious carrot cake

You can eat it as it is or cover it with buttercream icing or cream cheese frosting.

Bundt carrot cake in a plate.
Bundt carrot cake
Round carrot cake on a wooden tray.
Yummilicious carrot cake

We had a bit of a mishap with the buttercream icing as the orange juice curdled it up. It still tastes yum though! Be careful when you’re adding any citrusy or acidic flavors to butter or curd for icing. If you add too much, it’s going to get funny-looking.

Carrot cake with icing on a plate held by 2 hands.
Carrot cake with butter cream icing gone wrong

And here we have carrot cake with delicious cream cheese icing. I could just gobble it all up, can’t you? There’s no harm eating a carrot cake for dinner, said no one ever – sadly!

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing on top.
Carrot cake with cream cheese icing
Carrot cake with cream cheese icing on top.

Homemade Carrot Cake With Raisins | Indian Style

Abby
Carrot cake is a delicious and moist cake made with freshly grated carrots, raisins and spices. This is how we make it Mumbai.
5 out of 5 Stars by 2 readers!

Click the stars to add your rating! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Dessert, Snacks
Cuisine Fusion, International
Servings 60 Slices
Calories 131 kcal
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Ingredients
  

Optional

  • 150 grams Walnuts Chopped

Optional : Creamcheese Frosting

  • 200 grams Cream Cheese
  • 100 grams Butter
  • 350 grams Powdered Sugar Add more if required.
  • .5 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
  • 20 ml Orange Juice

Instructions
 

  • Grate the carrots and keep aside for later.
  • In a vessel, add butter which is at room temperature.
  • Add sugar to the butter and cream the mixture.
  • Mix the all-purpose flour with the baking powder. Add this to the cake along with the semolina and mix well. Also add ginger powder, cinnamon powder, and salt.
  • Beat the eggs in a vessel and add this to the cake batter.
  • Mix well and finally add the raisins and the grated carrots.
  • LIne the tins and pour the batter into the cake tins.
  • Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 50 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees fahrenheit. (Adjust settings to suit your oven.)
  • And your delicious carrot cake is ready! You can top it with cream cheese or just serve plain, or with ice cream!

If You Want Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Mix the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and orange essence together.
  • Pipe into a bag and decorate the cake or just slather on the cake with a spatula.

Please click to rate the recipe! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!

Notes

  • Grate the carrots before you start with the batter.
  • You can skip the semolina and just use all-purpose flour.
  • You can replace the butter with vegetable oil (flavorless) or use a mix of both.
  • Walnuts are optional, but they add a nice crunch to the cake.
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Stuff You Might Want to Use

Loaf or Cake Baking Liners
Greaseproof Baking Paper
King Arthur Baking - King Arthur Round Cake Pan
9
Silicon Spatula
Steel Spatula

Nutrition (Per Serving)

Calories: 131kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 85mg | Potassium: 74mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1608IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg

Disclaimer: Nutrition Information per serving is estimated by a third party software based on the ingredients used, and is for informational purposes only. It will vary from product to product, based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients. Please consult the package labels of the ingredients you use, or chat with your dietician for specific details.

This printable recipe card is for home use only. For more recipes head over to AbbysPlate.com

Recipe Pointers For Carrot Cake Recipe

  • Grate the carrots and keep them ready before you start with the cake batter.
  • You can skip the semolina and only use all purpose flour.
  • If you don’t have red carrots, you can use the orange carrots, but in that case, increase the amount of sugar in the recipe a bit.
  • You can replace the butter with a flavorless oil or use a mix of both.
  • Walnuts are optional, but they add a little crunch to the cake.
  • You can skip the raisins too if you like.
  • It’s not essential to top the cake with cream cheese frosting, but if you do, it tastes yumm!
  • Or you can serve warm carrot cake with some cool vanilla ice cream!
  • You might also like this list of traditional Irish desserts!
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Questions About carrot cake

Can I freeze Carrot cake?

Yes, of course! Packed in an air-tight container you can store carrot cake in the freezer for up to 4-6 months. Reheat before serving!

Does Carrot Cake need to be refrigerated?

Carrot cake can be kept out at room temperature for a day or two, but make sure it is refrigerated if you are keeping it for a longer period. Store in an air-tight container for about 1 week in a refrigerator.

Who invented Carrot cake?

According to food experts, people started using carrots in cakes during the middle ages in Europe when sugar was in poor supply. Carrots and beets were naturally high in sugar and the perfect alternative.

What Frosting goes best With Carrot Cake?

The most used frosting for carrot cake is cream cheese frosting that tastes just yum!

What other carrot recipes can I make?

You can try our Tomaro Carrot soup recipe and also delicious Indian Gajar Halwa.

Can I replace the Raisins in the cake?

Yes, the raisins in the cake can be replaced with pineapple or even grated coconut for their natural sweetness.

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