Easter Carrot Cake with Buttercream Frosting

An Easter inspired carrot cake topped with green buttercream frosting grass and mini speckled chocolate eggs! If you’re going to make a cake for Easter – let it be this one!

This is a BIG cake guys.. yep, I went a bit overboard with my vision of carrot cake and Easter egg hunts. It’s a tradition I look forward to every year and this year, I wanted to bring something extra to enjoy with the family.

Moist, spicy cake filled with raisins, nuts and pineapple and a generous lashing of buttercream frosting, tinted green to hide all those speckled chocolate eggs.

Let the kids hunt the Easter eggs in the garden while the adults relax and enjoy a slice of this cake with coffee or tea. They can still have some later though, there’s plenty for everyone!

Start by preheating your oven to 180 C / 356 F and move the rack down to the bottom half of the oven (this way you don’t have to move it later when it is hot).

Place all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix together (flour, sugar, spices, nuts and raisins). This cake is perfectly suited for gluten free flours (generic mixes) as it is bulked up by the carrot, walnuts and raisins and rise is aided by the eggs and baking powder. So feel free to use whichever flour you prefer.

In another bowl, crack in the eggs, add the eggs, oil, vanilla and crushed pineapple into another bowl and mix together with a fork / whisk.

Grate the carrot and mix into the egg mixture. I used about 3 medium carrots to get my 2 cups.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add in the wet ingredients, mix well until everything is incorporated.

Grease a large cake tin or glass dish (38×25 cm / 15×9 inches) and pour in the cake batter. Smooth it into each corner and then place the cake into the oven on a low rack and bake for 30~40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Take out of the oven and leave to fully cool.

For the Buttercream Frosting (or icing as we call it in Australia – frosting does sound cooler though), take the butter out of the fridge and allow for it to soften. A good rule of thumb is to take it out of the fridge when your cake is done. Then your cake will be cool by the time your butter has softened and it is ready to be frosted.

Add the softened butter and vanilla into a large bowl and whip (with a hand or stand mixer) until pale and creamy.

Start to add in the icing sugar a cup at a time and continue to whip. When half of the icing sugar is incorporated, add in the heavy whipping cream and continue to whip while continuing to add in the remainder of the sugar.
Finally, all in a few drops of green food colouring and whip through. You now have your buttercream frosting “grass”.

Frost the cooled carrot cake with the green icing and use a fork to create texture on top to make the grass. Sprinkle over mini speckled chocolate Easter eggs and enjoy!

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Easter Carrot Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 24

Author The Consumption

Ingredients

Carrot Cake

• 2 ½ cups gluten free or regular self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ½ cup walnuts
• ½ cup raisins
• 2 cups grated carrot ~3 medium carrots
• 4 free-range eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla paste / essence
• 1 cup crushed pineapple or 5 rings of canned pineapple and1/2 cup juice blended together
• ¾ cup olive oil

Buttercream Frosting

• 250 g salted butter
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• ½ teaspoon green food colouring
• Mini speckled chocolate Easter eggs for decoration

Instructions

Carrot Cake

• Preheat the oven to 180 C / 356 F
• Place all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix together (flour, sugar, spices, nuts and raisins)
• In another bowl, crack in the eggs, add the oil, vanilla and crushed pineapple and mix together with a fork / whisk
• Grate the carrot and mix into the egg mixture
• Make a well in the dry ingredients and add in the wet ingredients, mix well until everything is incorporated
• Grease a large cake tin or glass dish (38x25 cm / 15x9 inches)
• Pour the cake batter into the baking dish and smooth into each corner
• Place into the oven on a low rack and bake for 30~40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
• Take out of the oven and leave to fully cool

Buttercream Frosting

• Take the butter out of the fridge and allow for it to soften
• Add the softened butter and vanilla into a large bowl and whip until pale and creamy
• Start to add in the icing sugar a cup at a time and continue to whip
• When half of the icing sugar is incorporated, add in the heavy whipping cream
• Continue to whip and add in the remainder of the sugar
• Finally, all in a few drops of green food colouring and whip through
• Frost the cooled carrot cake with the green icing and use a fork to create texture on top to make the “grass”. Sprinkle over mini speckled chocolate Easter eggs

Notes

Store the cake in the fridge but take it out before serving to allow the buttercream to soften.

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