Carrot Cake

With a white cream cheese frosting, the Carrot Cake is a classic, present in most bakeries and pastry shops. The cake itself is, when made right, moist and soft. And it's lent a natural sweetness from the carrots added to the basic flour, eggs and butter batter.

Often considered a healthier alternative to other cakes, carrot cakes come laden with the health benefits of carrots. Rich in vitamins and minerals, they're also full of antioxidants that are good for the body. Carrots are famously good for eyesight, their potassium helps control blood pressure and thus prevent heart disease, and their fibre helps with weight loss. They also boost the immune system, help strengthen bones, and ease constipation.

The Carrot Cake’s origin is disputed. The earliest reference to a carrot dessert can be found in a 10th-century Arabian recipe T’Khabis al-jazar, which talks about a carrot pudding, in Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq. But most believe the Carrot Cake descended from the European mediaeval carrot pudding. A 1591 recipe in Edward Allde’s A Book of Cookrye: Very Necessary for All Such as Delight Therin for “pudding in a Carret root” essentially presents the recipe for a carrot stuffed with meat. During this time, sugar and other sweeteners were expensive and carrots were a great substitute for the sweet.

While more carrot pudding recipes exist as time progresses, the first reference to carrot cake appears in the 1827 book The Art of French Cookery by AB Beauvilliers and then in Richard Dolby’s 1830 book The Cook's Dictionary.

There was a resurgence in carrot’s popularity in the UK during World War II as there was a surplus of carrot, while there was a shortage of several other food items, and several carrot items were encouraged and recipes shared on the radio.

In the late 1900s, Carrot Cake also became a fad in the US and its popularity spiked again.