Homemade Carrot Cake : My Go-To Birthday Cake for 50% of my kids

My journey in to watching what my kids ate, reading labels, and “going crazy over food” as my teenager likes to put it began two years ago after my oldest son was diagnosed with Asperger’s.  I will admit that when I first started dabbling in “clean eating” I truly thought all that entailed was avoiding artificial dyes, flavors, and preservatives and making everything from scratch.  Over the last two years I have come to learn that “clean eating” means so much more than that – avoiding not only artificial dyes, flavors, and preservatives, but also unnecessary filler additives like carrageenan.  I think one of the best clean eating rules I have read went like this:


When reading the ingredient label, if you don’t know what an ingredient is, or if you have never heard of it, there is a good chance that it is a chemical or processed ingredient.

I’ll admit that it is really hard sometimes. I tossed out things like Hamburger Helper a long time ago and there are crazy hectic nights when I wish I had some of those time saving dinners until I realize all the crap they are filled with.

Back to the originally purpose of this post: CARROT CAKE! When it came time for birthdays, I wanted to make a carrot cake from scratch. I sat down and thought back to all the carrot cakes I had ever had and what I loved about each one. Then I went to the computer and tried to find a recipe that incorporated all of those things: a moist cake filled with carrots, pineapple, and raisins, with lots of spices, and a cream cheese frosting. Yes. I love me some cream cheese! Well I couldn’t find one recipe that incorporated it all. So then I started just combining elements from various recipes and came up with this one.

Is it clean? Cleaner than a box of Betty Crocker! Is it paleo? Heavens to Betsy not even close.  As of now I try and use as many organic ingredients as possible.  This cake is not sugar free, it’s not grain free, it’s not dairy free… But it is like heaven in your mouth!

Homemade Carrot Cake : My Go-To Birthday Cake
Yields: 9-inch two-layer round cake
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Sift and mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the following:
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
Form a well in the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients. Then add,
2 cups shredded carrot
1/2 cup golden raisins (soaked in pineapple juice)
8 oz crushed pineapple.
Divide the mixture between two 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean. Let cool and frost.

FROSTING
3 packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick + 3 TBS unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in the extracts. Slowly add in the powdered sugar.