carrot cake with cider and olive oil
Not 10 seconds after I hit “publish” on Tuesday’s , pretty much out of the clear blue sky, wherever it might be hiding, I simultaneously began craving carrot cake, feeling vaguely annoyed that we didn’t have any around (because I haven’t made it , maybe?) and more pressingly for the breadth of this site, why I didn’t have what I’d consider a go-to recipe for the kind of hearty, craggy of a carrot cake loaf I want more of in my life. Sure, there’s a in the archives, but it’s a featherweight, for swirls of cream cheese frosting and birthday candle. I wanted breakfast/afternoon snack carrot cake, the kind that comes in thick slices and toasts well with salted butter. In my mind, they’re different. And my mind, as you can gather, ponders these things a lot.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 11 of 12 ingredients — the other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 11 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Apple Cider | 1 medium (182g) | 95 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Carrot | 1 medium (61g) | 25 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
| Cloves | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp ground (2.6g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups (290 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon (5 grams) table or fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder (I prefer aluminum-free)
- 1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground or a bunch of gratings of whole nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) olive oil
- 3/4 cup (145 grams) dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (205 ml) apple cider (updated and reduced to help cake bake through; see suggestions below)
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 2 cups packed coarsely grated carrots from about 12 ounces (3 meaty/large or 6 to 7 slim or 340 grams) whole, peeled ones
- Olive oil or nonstick cooking spray for baking pan