To-Die-For Nutless Carrot Cake

"Carrot cakes don't need nuts in them to be good! Try this version of a recipe I originally found in Chatelaine mag. Don't be put off by the length; it's no harder than any other carrot cake!"
 
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Ready In:
55mins
Ingredients:
20
Serves:
12
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ingredients

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directions

  • Place raisins in a microwave-safe bowl and drizzle with the 3 tbsp of orange liqueur; cover with plastic wrap or a lid and microwave on Medium power for 1 or 2 minutes, until the raisins are warm; remove from microwave and set aside.
  • Preheat oven to 350F; lightly butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray three 9-inch round cake pans or three of the disposable 8 1/2-inch or 9-inch foil pans.
  • Line the bottom of each pan with a circle of parchment paper or wax paper, lightly greased; set pans aside.
  • Scrape carrots and grate, using either the grating disc in your cuisinart or on the large holes of a box grater; you do NOT want to grind the carrots, you want them shredded.
  • Grated carrots should measure out to be 3 1/2 cups; don't use any more than that or your cake's texture will definitely suffer.
  • In a mixing bowl, with electric mixer, beat together eggs, orange zest, brown sugar, oil and vanilla; beat until smooth.
  • In another mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices; I do this by sifting all through a sieve into the bowl.
  • Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture and pour in egg mixture, stirring just until moist.
  • Carefully fold in carrots and raisins (and any remaining liqueur).
  • Divide evenly among three prepared pans; smooth tops.
  • Bake in preheated oven until a tester comes out clean when inserted in centre of cakes, 25 to 30 minutes.
  • When done, remove cakes from oven and cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and let cool thoroughly.
  • You could now wrap the cakes tightly and refrigerate them overnight, if you wanted to ice the cake the next day.
  • To make the icing, beat softened cream cheese (2 250 gram or 8 oz bars= one pound) in a large mixing bowl with electric mixer until creamy.
  • Beat in icing sugar, vanilla and liqueur, combining well.
  • Place one layer of cake on a plate and spread one-third of icing over cake layer, going right to the edges.
  • Repeat with the next two layers.
  • If desired, sprinkle the toasted coconut over the top layer of icing.
  • Refrigerate cake for at least one hour before serving, and keep leftover cake in the fridge, well covered.

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Reviews

  1. Made this as one of my contributions to this year's Easter dinner when a nutless carrot cake was requested. I liked the idea of the added orange flavor in the cake, and I enjoyed it. I agree that this was no harder to make than any other carrot cake. The texture was dense and pleasant. Everyone else, however, took a bite and did that “what's this?" double-take. They didn’t dislike the cake but would have preferred no orange flavor in it. If you like a carrot cake that’s a bit different than the norm, however, you’ll like this one.
     
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I have been sharing recipes here at Recipezaar since October 2001. You won't see me around anymore, although if you're an old-school Zaarite you'll remember that in the past, you couldn't shut me up!
 
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