Gâteau à la Carotte

I love watching the reaction of French people when I tell them that there are carrots in this cake.  In France, carrots are meant to be eaten grated and tossed with a vinaigrette as an entrée or cooked in butter and salt until they become soft and mushy (a favorite in school cantines), but the thought of putting them in a cake is, well… unheard of.  When I serve Carrot Cake to my French friends, I always tell them that there’s a secret ingredient, but I never tell them what it is until after they’ve tasted it.  I love hearing their responses.  They’ll go through a list of spices trying to guess the “mystery ingredient,” but nobody ever guesses carrots.  When I finally tell them that it’s a gâteau à la carotte they are completely surprised.  But, one thing is for sure…they always like it.

My Carrot Cake recipe is different than most in that I don’t put a lot of sugar in it, I’ve replace all-purpose wheat flour with white spelt flour, and I add olive oil.  I find that most Carrot Cakes are overly sweet which takes away from the naturally sweet flavor of the carrots.  For this recipe, I use Nantes Carrots that naturally have a nice sweet taste.  I then bring out the flavors with a mixture of agave syrup and raw cane sugar.  Olive oil then adds great moisture and nice nutty flavor.  The result is a moist cake that is wonderful eaten as is or topped with a Mascarpone frosting.

Carrot Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).  Place the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes.  Once cool, chop the walnuts into smaller pieces.

In a bowl, mix together the spelt flour, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, and cinnamon.

With an electric or hand mixer, beat the eggs for about 1 minute until frothy.  Add the agave syrup and raw can sugar.  Continue beating for another 3 or so minutes until the mixture has become a pale color.  Slowly mix in the olive oil and vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix with a spoon until just incorporated.  Stir in the grated carrots and walnuts.

Pour into an oiled cake pan.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.

Let the cake cool completely before serving.  Refrigerate for a few hours before frosting.

Mascarpone Frosting

Mix together the mascarpone cheese, agave syrup, and a pinch of salt.  Add more agave syrup if needed.