Italian Carrot Bundt Cake (Torta di Carote). Forget nuts, raisins, coconut, and rich frostings. This is a simple Italian cake that is all about carrots. Moist, mildly sweet, with a lovely orange hue and orange flavor, this cake is popular in Italy at breakfast, snack, or light dessert any time of the year.
Song of the day: Everglow - Coldplay
I've read somewhere that Carrot Cake is very peculiar to Easter, but no, I am not late to the game. In Italy, Easter and Carrot Cake don't necessarily go in the same sentence.
What's an Italian Carrot Cake?
Maybe, once you'll read the ingredients, or perhaps just looking at the picture, you might say "This is not a carrot cake!". And you might be true, in the sense that it does lack all the intrinsic ingredients you are used to finding in a carrot cake made this side of the ocean.
So what's in an Italian Carrot Cake? Well, our love for simple and genuine ingredients shows also in this cake that is all about carrots. Not shredded carrots, but carrots that are done in a food processor with vegetable oil and some orange flavoring, like orange juice and zest, or Arancello liquor in my case.
TIP: You need to get those carrots nice and creamy. They will add a fantastic lightness and moistness to the cake, not to mention the flavor and lovely hue.
The other ingredients of this Italian Carrot Bundt Cake (Torta di Carote).
Other than carrots, the other ingredients are almost the same as many other Italian cakes: flour, eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, baking powder, a pinch of salt. I told you, simple and unfussy.
TIP: Beat the eggs and the sugar for a few minutes until frothy, this will give the cake a nice airy, light texture.
Gently add the carrot cream to the egg/sugar mixture, then lastly fold the sifted flour/salt/baking powder. I added a pinch of cinnamon although cinnamon is rarely used in Italian desserts.
Recipe credit:
I followed the recipe my co-worker Titti gave me and it's a recipe from her aunt. The only thing is that like in most Italian recipes I had to "translate" it from vague glasses (wine, water glasses, tall, short glasses? We had no idea, lol) to actual measurements, before posting it. And yes, I added cinnamon and the glaze.
Bundt pan or cake pan?
I opted for the bundt pan, because I have a mild "obsession" for them, lol. But this cake is mostly baked in a round springform pan, 9-inch (22-24 cm). Do as you most please.
To ice it or not to ice it?
If I was in Italy and I was making this cake for my Italian family's consumption, I would have just dusted the top with powdered sugar. But I am back to Canada and the environment plays a big role in my cooking/baking. Here, the perfect finishing to a cake is icing or frosting. Plus, Loreto really loves it.
So, a no brainer, icing it is. In the fridge there was sour cream, so my icing is going to be a sour cream icing. If I had cream cheese I would have probably used that. Sour cream, vanilla extract, and icing (powdered) sugar. To your desired thickness. I kept it a little runny because the thought of adding more icing sugar to thicken it was making me cringe a little...
Italian Carrot Bundt Cake (Torta di Carote) is a lovely end to dinner, but it also works well with your morning espresso or afternoon tea. It is the type of cake you can feel comfortable to give to your kids, and they will surely love it. The kid in Loreto found it amazing and we enjoyed it both at breakfast and as dessert (although I found myself scraping the icing out. I'm weird eh?)
Loreto's take on the cake.........
I love this cake. It has this rich yet light flavor and the moistness is incredible. The way the carrots color the inside all the way out and how that texture just melts like butter in your mouth is truly amazing. I am a kid at heart and not a dunker. However, love to take a bite, then a sip of coffee and let those flavors play in my mouth melting together to make a luxurious blend of taste and texture! As for the icing, it was just right, balanced, not too sweet. Could I have done without? I could have but my motto is "Live a Little"!
Amazing job once again amore!!!!!
P.s. Today is Loreto's birthday, but this cake is not the cake I made to celebrate how much I love him. I am actually making a layer cake, me, can you believe it?. I told him it will be somewhat healthy, though. I hope I'll do a good job. He deserves an amazing cake for his birthday. So stay tuned, you don't want to miss that!
Song of the day: Everglow - Coldplay
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Italian Carrot Bundt Cake (Torta di Carote)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
Description
Italian Carrot Bundt Cake (Torta di Carote). Forget nuts, raisins, coconut, and rich frostings. This is a simple Italian cake that is all about carrots. Moist, mildly sweet, with a lovely orange hue, this cake is popular in Italy at breakfast, snack, or light dessert any time of the year.
Ingredients
- 3 medium carrots (270 g)
- 150 g (a little more than ⅔ cup) vegetable oil (I use sunflower or peanut oil)
- 1 Tbsp Arancello liquor (or 1 Tbsp organic orange juice and zest)
- 3 large eggs, organic, free-range, at room temperature
- 160 g (¾ cup) brown or muscovado sugar
- 240 g (1 ½ cups + 1 Tbsp) all-purpose flour or type 00
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 16 g (1 packet; 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp) baking powder
Sour cream icing (optional):
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- icing sugar (about 1 cup)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- In the bowl of a food processor, blend the carrots, then add the Arancello liquor and the oil. Continue to blend until you have a nice smooth orange cream.
- Using a handheld mixer and a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar for about 2 minutes until they are light and fluffy.
- Add the carrot cream and stir it with a spatula.
- Add the flour sifted with the cinnamon, salt, and baking powder and fold gently but thoroughly.
- Grease and flour a bundt pan and pour the mixture in.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer (or cake tester) inserted in the center comes out clean (I usually check it after 30 minutes).
- Let the cake cool in the pan, then turn onto a wire rack.
- You can serve it with a dusting of icing sugar or make a sour cream icing.
Sour cream icing:
- In a bowl mix the sour cream and vanilla extract. Add a tablespoon of icing sugar at a time while keeping stirring until you reach the desired thickness.
Notes
You can bake the cake in a 9-inch (22-24 cm) springform pan.
If you omit the icing, this cake is dairy-free and nut-free.
It lasts 3-4 days in a dome cake stand at room temperature.
- Category: Dessert, Cakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: carrots, carrot cake, bundt cake, dessert, breakfast, snack, light, Italian, vegetable oil, eggs
This is a delicious looking carrot cake! Although I love the traditional carrot cake, I really want to try this version. Processing the carrots and orange juice together seem to give the cake a beautiful texture, and it looks amazing!
★★★★★
Thank you, Colleen! We love this carrot cake. So moist and delightful. Hope you try it!
I love this twist on carrot cake! And I'm with you - icing all the way. The more the better 🙂
★★★★★
Ah aha 🙂 , my husband is with you. Icing all the way! I don't mind mine plain. Thank you so much for your comment!
Healthy and moist and delicious. Kids to love the Icing option too. Love to make one for sure.
★★★★★
Definitely a healthier version of a corrot cake 🙂 . But still very delicious. The kids will love it! Thank you.
I am in love with this Italian carrot cake recipe! I am a huge carrot cake fan and can't believe I hadn't heard of this way of creating it. I am so excited to try this, especially with the hint of orange. I can already taste it 😛
★★★★★
The orange is such a nice compliment to the carrots! I've used Arancello liquor, which is a limoncello made with oranges, but orange juice and zest work great too. Thank you!
Italian Carrot Bundt Cake sounds amazing! I love that it is so simple. Perfect for any time of the year! YUM!
★★★★★
It is very simple, that's one of the reasons we make it often 🙂 . Plus, it's so good! Thanks!!
I remember seeing this cake on Instagram and thinking how lucky your Loreto was, haha! I love carrot cake, and I also have a love of bundt cakes!! This looks delicious! 🙂
Thank you so much! Loreto loved this cake! I have to make it again soon 😉 .
Love the hint of orange in this recipe. I am such a sucker for carrot cakes, can't wait to try it your way!
Carrot and orange go amazingly together! Hope you give it a try! Thanks.
What a great way to make carrot cake -- love the idea of putting the carrots in the food processor rather than having little chunks of carrots. And I am obsessed with bundt pans - I love them!! There are so many different shapes. I wish I could collect all of them. They make everything you bake in them extra special.
★★★★★
Me too, Marisa! A mild obsession for bundt pans, I would buy them all! 🙂 . It is a great carrot cake, way lighter than the other version. Thank you!!
This looks so good! I just bought a bundt cake pan the other day and I am so ready to use it. This looks like the best thing to make with it for the first time!
★★★★★
It is very fast and easy to make, perfect to try your new bundt pan 😉 .
I love this version of carrot cake! It sounds really easy to make too, I can't wait to give it a try!
★★★★★
Thanks! It is very easy and the result will please everybody!
Im a lover of all carrot cakes but i have never had this style before, and my mouth is WATERING ! And even better this looks so easy to make !
★★★★★
Thanks! I need to make it again, soon 🙂 . Yes, very easy and quite fast. You can't beat that 😉 .
This sounds absolutely delicious with the orange and cinnamon flavors. I've never heard of Arancello liquor before but I will keep my eyes peeled because this recipe looks like a wonderful reason to try it!
★★★★★
Thank you! We bought it at Eataly in Roma, but I guess liquor stores might have it. Or you can simply add orange.
Your carrot bundt cake looks absolutely mouth-watering! And I love the addition of an orange liqueur to give it an extra burst of flavor. We'll definitely be making this in the not-too-distant future.
Yes, the orange liquor or orange juice and zest gives such a nice burst of flavor! Thank you!
hi. I baked this cake.
It was very good.
I am from Iran and I love baking cake....
★★★★★
Hello Zahra! Thank you, happy you liked the cake! I love baking too 🙂 . Hope you'll try some other recipes. Happy baking/cooking!
This recipe was a pleasure to prepare, and is moist and delicious. I make any modifications and it was perfect. I will definitely make this carrot bundt cake again. Seems silly that so many comments are from people that haven't even made the recipe. They are missing out 🙂
★★★★★
I am so happy when I receive feedback for my baked goods! I absolutely love this cake and am really pleased that you loved it too. I agree, the ones that haven't tried it are missing out 😉 . Thank you!
A lovely change from traditional North American carrot cake. I like that it’s not too sweet. Easy to make too.
★★★★★
Thank you! Glad you gave it a try, liked it, and found it easy to make. You made me very happy.