Maple Carrot Cake - The Recipe That Inspired the Tea

Easter is coming quicker than quick, and it's time to start planning that Easter Brunch or Easter Dinner menu! Or maybe its not brunch, but linner (lunch & dinner), like we are hosting down on the farm this year.

We will be serving the traditional ham at our brunch/linner, along with more of a potluck style meal. I'll be cooking a few other dishes to go with the ham as my contribution. I thought about scalloped potatoes, but Grandma's potato salad is tradition and a must have.  Aside from the ham and potato salad, I haven't thought about it much, with the exception of dessert. Dessert first, am I right?

Enter carrot cake. Very traditional and very seasonal. It's the perfect blend of sweet cream cheese frosting, hearty sprouted flour, and the freshness of spring carrots. 

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While carrot cake is a standard tradition at most Easter brunches, this one really takes the cake. (hehe). It's a wee bit different than most carrot cakes which one might encounter. This carrot cake is sugar free - refined sugar free that is. 

Baking treats when one has a sugar allergy can really be quite the challenge. Thankfully, I'm not allergic to maple syrup in small amounts. Enter Maple Carrot Cake. 

This carrot cake really takes well to the sweetness and depth that maple syrup brings. Its just the right amount of sweet without going over board and leaving you with that sugar coma at the end of your fabulous Easter Brunch.

I'm also enjoying baking with sprouted pastry flour from Granite Mill Farm. Sprouted flour is not only healthier and easier to digest for most, but adds a yummy texture to this cake as well. Feel free to sub an unbleached white flour for a lighter, less nutty cake. Make sure the liquid is also adjusted as a sprouted flour tends to soak up more liquid, and that same amount may not be needed if unbleached white flour is substituted. 

With a big crowd for Easter, a sheet cake is the simplest form to bake this recipe in. Though it can be baked in many different ways. If you are going for the layered look, feel free to bake this cake in two, 9 inch round pans. Cool and then layer the yummy cream cheese frosting goodness between the two layers and all along the outside. 

If there are lots of littles around on Easter, throw this batter into a muffin pan and make them cupcakes (which also allow quicker cooking when in a pinch.)

Even if baked in the sheet pan, as we did here, the servings may be cut into squares, triangles, or maybe you have a carrot cookie cutter and you can go all out. 

The possibilities are only limited to your imagination, tools on hand, and time.

While this cake was created to avoid a sugar allergy while still enjoying a traditional treat, it also inspired a tea blend. Harvest Carrot Cake Rooibos tastes almost like this cake. But with less calories. 

You truly can HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO... I mean drink it too.

The base of this tea is made with a red "tea" from Africa called Red Rooibos. It doesn't actually come from the tea plant (camellia sinensis) but a different type of bush. Rooibos is more of an herb. This makes Rooibos naturally caffeine free. Red Rooibos has a nutty, vanilla like flavor to it. Paired with sweet maple, farm dried carrot pieces, and raisins, it is pretty much like melted carrot cake in your tea cup. If you'd like to try it out, find it in our farm store here online.

Without further ado, in case your in that, "I need an Easter dessert recipe NOW" mode, we present to you our healthier, heartier, Harvest Maple Carrot Cake Recipe.

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Harvest Maple Carrot Cake

Yield: 20

Author: Farmhouse Teas

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 30 Min

The perfect blend of sweet cream cheese frosting, hearty sprouted flour, and the freshness of spring carrots.

Ingredients

• 3 cups sprouted pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup oil or melted butter (we used avocado oil)
• 1 1/2 cups real maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups peeled and shredded carrots
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup organic raisins
• Frosting Ingredients
• 2 8 oz containers of organic cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of real maple syrup

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl or electric mixer bowl, add the sprouted wheat flour, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon. Mix dry ingredients to combine.
2. Add oil or melted butter, maple syrup, vanilla and four eggs. Blend until will incorporated.
3. Last add the chopped walnuts, shredded carrots and raisins. Stir them into the batter gently.
4. Grease and flour 10x14 (or 9x13 baking dish, for taller cake) sheet pan.
5. Pour batter into pan of choice and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until tooth pick comes out clean. If using a smaller pan, time may need to be adjusted upward.
6. After cake has cooled to room temperature. Mix the cream cheese and 1/4 - 1/2 cup of real maple syrup (more for a sweeter frosting) until well blended. Frost the top of the cake and decorate as desired.