Eat grown-up carrot cake this Easter

Carrot cake doesn’t usually ask for much. It’s a humble, nostalgic dessert—spiced and sweet, cozy under a thick blanket of cream cheese frosting. It shows up at Easter or maybe at a spring potluck, often slightly too sweet and overloaded with nuts or raisins. But what if it didn’t have to be that way?

What if carrot cake could grow up?

I wanted a version that leaned deeper into warmth and richness, less about sugary comfort and more about quiet complexity. A cake that lingered, if you will. A cake with backbone.

It started with a memory: my aunt’s spice cake, which she used to ship in the mail to my dad. Wrapped tightly in plastic and tape, it smelled like warming spices and thick icing before it was even opened. It was lush and warming without being sharp, rich without feeling too heavy. It came rushing back to me one day when I tried a slice of zucchini bread from Gregory’s Coffee — astonishingly dense, dark and full of spice. The texture was nearly fudge-like and the flavor was layered, vegetal and savory-sweet in all the right ways. I wanted carrot cake to feel like that.

So I started tinkering.

I swapped cream cheese for mascarpone in the frosting, which has less tang and more creamy depth. I browned the butter, amped up the warming spices and added just a touch of maple. I also cut back on the grated carrot, which can sometimes make a cake feel a bit soggy, and drained what I did use.

To intensify the flavor, I stirred in some carrot purée alongside it. And because I’m not a fan of chewy chunks in otherwise smooth things — nuts in brownies, raisins in meatloaf, fennel seeds in sausage — I left all the mix-ins out of the batter and used them instead as garnish. Plumped golden raisins, toasted coconut, and a few chopped nuts go over the top, where they can shine without interrupting the crumb.

The real trick, though, might be in the balance of savory and sweet. I grind a handful of walnuts, pecans or pistachios into the dry ingredients, which adds richness and structure without overwhelming the cake. Brown sugar gives it a molasses depth and I hold back on the white sugar so things never veer into cloying. There’s salt, of course, and neutral oil and buttermilk — a trio I won’t bake a cake without.

A drizzle of salted carrot caramel over the top seals the deal. It’s one last hit of carrot, but richer, toastier, and unexpected in the best way.

I’ve pulled inspiration from bakers I trust. Alison Roman, who recommends serving carrot cake cold from the fridge, which gives it a custardy, dense texture. She’s absolutely right. Yossy Arefi, who adds lemon for brightness—it emboldens the earthiness of the carrots. Sohla El-Waylly, who brings cardamom into the spice mix, a move I’ve fully adopted. Claire Saffitz, who leans on neutral oil and buttermilk for perfect crumb. Even Stella Parks, who makes sweetened carrot peels into delicate “carrot roses.” I didn’t do that here — this cake already has plenty going on — but I love the idea of using the whole vegetable, tops and all.

This version of carrot cake is darker, denser, a little moodier. Still celebratory, still springy, still very much a carrot cake — but one with a bit more je ne sais quoi.

Serve it cold. Don’t skip the caramel. And don’t be surprised when it becomes the cake people start asking for again.

Spiced carrot cake with mascarpone frosting, salted carrot caramel and salty-sweet crumble

Yields

8 servings

Prep Time

30 minutes (plus assembly)

Cook Time

45 minutes

Ingredients

For cake:

Cooking spray

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup walnuts, pecans or pistachios, ground

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon clove

1 stick unsalted butter, browned

2 eggs

3/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark, doesn't matter)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup neutral oil (I like grapeseed)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 lemon, zested and juiced

2 to 3 carrots, pureed

5 carrots, peeled, grated and drained (squeeze the grated carrots out in a paper towel over the sink)

For frosting:

10 ounces mascarpone

3 tablespoons coconut cream

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 teaspoon pure vanila extract

1 lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon cardamom

Kosher salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar

For caramel: 

1 cup sugar 

1/4 cup carrot juice

Carrot peels

Flaky salt

For crumble:

1/3 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

1/4 cup roughly chopped nuts (pecans, pistachio and/or walnuts)

1/3 cup golden raisins, plumped in carrot juice and drained

Kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper or a Silpat pad. Spray with Pam or cooking spray. Conversely, you can use two 6-inch cake tins.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, ground nuts, baking soda and powder, seasonings and salt. 
4. In a large bowl, mix together brown butter, eggs, sugars, maple syrup, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, lemon juice and carrot puree. Stir until homogenous.
5. Add grated carrots and dry ingredients to wet ingredients, alternating, in multiple increments, until just combined. Don't overmix.
6. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester comes out dry. Let cool completely.
7. For frosting, whip mascarpone, coconut cream, heavy cream, vanilla and lemon juice. Add cardamom, salt and sugar, whip again, until fluffy and light.
8. For caramel, combine sugar, carrot juice and carrot peels in a large saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the sugar has melted and caramelized. Remove form heat, let cool entirely, remove peels and season with salt. 
9. For crumble, stir together coconut, chopped nuts and drained, whole raisins. Season with salt. 
10. To assemble, using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread frosting atop cake evenly. Drizzle evenly with a zig-zag of caramel and finish with the crumble, evenly dispersed. Finish with some additional flaky salt, if desired. 
11. Serve cold.

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Cook's Notes

• I'm slightly allergic to pineapple, so I steer clear here, but feel free to toss some chopped chunks or even a splash of pineapple juice to your batter or even your icing. 
• Similarly, in the same way some carrot cakes call for pineapple, I think certain fruits elevate the earthy, almost grassy nature of the carrot. Lean on peach, plum or apricot, if you'd like — possibly in the form of jam, preserves or juice — which will diversify and deepen the flavor overall.
• If you're anxious about working with hot sugar, feel free to buy already-made sore-bought caramel, but just stir in some carrot juice and a generous sprinkle of flaky salt to both loosen and flavor the caramel. You only want a light drizzle over the top or the whole shebang becomes far too sweet. Also, be sure to finish in this order: once the cake is cooled, spread with cardamom-mascarpone icing, then drizzle with caramel, then top with the nut-raisin-coconut crumble. 
• Also, be careful with the carrot shredding. It's so incredibly easy to nick your finger on the box grater. If you'd rather, you might be able to find a shredded or grated carrot at the grocery store, probably near the pre-packaged cole slaw? That might be preferable to the finely shredded fingertips, but you do you! 
• This might seem like a bizarre directive, but I promise it's legitimate: You should feel free to buy and use baby food in your cooking. I read this in a Chinese-American cookbook over the holidays and it sort of blew me away. It's cheap as heck, readily available almost anywhere you shop, practically every fruit or vegetable flavor is imaginable and the purees are pure produce. Not trying to peel, grate or puree your own carrots? Buy carrot baby food! Go ahead — take the shortcut! It's pure carrot and works perfectly. You can also, separately, opt for carrot juice, but that's better for the icing or the caramel than for the cake itself, which might then end up too wet. Your pick, though!