Carrot Cake

Easter is such a difficult holiday for the healthy eater. Really, there are no traditional Easter recipes that are truly clean! Jessica and I are always looking for a challenge, and this one definitely was a challenge. If you have read our blog before, you know we talk a lot about ingredient swapping. Well, this recipe can literally be the poster child for ingredient swapping. I took an already pretty clean recipes and cleaned it up even more, swapping so many ingredients, I wasn’t sure it would even work.  I will admit, I am kind of a carrot cake novice. It’s not something I’ve eaten very often, but now I will. This one is delicious. It was even 4 year  old approved.

Really, I had a 50/50 chance of my ingredients swaps working out. Some times experimenting in the kitchen can be a little like Vegas. Frankly, I’m surprised my family members haven’t started a betting pool yet.  I was so excited when this one came out as good as it did. The cake itself is amazing, but then you add our cream cheese icing, and well, its spectacular.

So, I went full on homemade for this recipe. I even ground my own cardamom, clove and nutmeg. I also used my own homemade vanilla extract. I grated the carrots very fine, because I wanted them to add another level of moisture to the cake. Also, I used organic no sugar added apple sauce, honey and turbinado sugar. These all helped the cake maintain that soft, luscious consistency we all love.  When making the cake, make sure to keep an eye on it, if it’s overcooked it will dry out pretty quickly.

 Local Ingredient: Local Honey purchased at a local festival.