National Carrot Cake Day is observed annually on February 3rd. It gives us a chance to have our cake and eat our veggies, too!
Carrot cake closely resembles a quick bread from its preparation to its final consistency. Quick breads mix the wet and dry ingredients separately before combining, and the final product is coarser than a traditional cake.
Carrots with their natural sweetness may have been selected as a substitute in the Middle Ages when sugar was hard to find or expensive. Carrot cake most likely developed from a carrot pudding which could be savory or sweet.
Carrot cakes may also include spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg, raisins or nuts.
Carrot cake is a lovely creation that evolved out of the Medieval favorite called carrot pudding. Through times in history when access to sugar was non-existent or very hard to come by, people have used sweet vegetables to make their desserts sweet.
There are documents that record President George Washington would enjoy this tasty treat in Lower Manhattan. He would go to Fraunces Tavern. The date: November 25, 1783. The occasion: British Evacuation Day. There was a cookbook that was put together to record and honor early American recipes. The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook was created by Mary Donovan, Amy Hatrack, and Frances Schull. In this book, they offer the exact recipe for President Washington’s favorite.
- Carrot Cake is denser than a regular cake.
- It is often topped with marzipan carrots.
- The most common icing on carrot cake is a cream cheese icing (icing sugar, butter and cream cheese).
- Carrot cake was named as one of the top five food fads of the 1970s by the Food Network.
- A survey by the Radio Times in 2011 named carrot cake as the most popular cake in Britain.
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