Carrot cake with honey lime icing; a super moist and luscious cake drizzled with a thin layer of honey and lime infused icing, perfect to celebrate Easter Sunday or to make any special occasion, extra special!
My last jaunt to the grocery store was like winning a lottery for a foodie like me! I was able to buy about 6 bunches of carrots which were on sale for a mind boggling discount! The huge mound of carrots looked so gorgeous with its orange color and freshness visible through all the packets, I just could not resist!
So, carrot cake it was for my bake which I am indulging in after a long time! Carrot and chocolate cakes are my sons’ favorite cakes (carrot is more of the younger one, although he loves chocolate cake too!) and my elder one reaches out only to the chocolate ones!
With Easter coming up and all you hear about and see on all the cooking shows and channels on TV or internet is “Easter” and “Carrots”!
So, I too decided to join the bandwagon and make a luscious carrot cake inspired from here. The original recipe did not have raisins and we all love raisins with carrot cake, don’t we? So, they had to go in the cake.
I love the loads of lime available nowadays and adore the tangy flavor it imparts to any dish. With a dash of lime zest in the cake and a splash of lime juice in the icing, my carrot cake developed a citrusy taste which we loved!
To amp up the nutrition quotient, I substituted half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour (I normally would use only whole wheat but my son prefers the fluffy texture all-purpose flour gives a cake, so made a compromise)!
I have made this cake with eggs, and if you want to make it eggless, just substitute some flax eggs for the regular eggs.
Once the cake was baked, ready and the whole house was wafting in the fragrance of cinnamon, I had to wait for it to cool to drizzle it with the lovely lime-honey icing. I love the flavor of honey that is why I stirred a bit in this icing; you can omit it if you like.
My icing was a bit thin that it coated it very fine. In a way, I loved it as all I needed on the already luscious carrot cake was just a wee bit of tangy icing! And after all the photography was done before the natural daylight disappeared, we dug into the cake!
Every bite was so moist, fluffy and to be frank, we loved the mild sourness the lime juice added to the cinnamony flavor of the cake!
Do try this lovely scrumptious carrot cake with honey-lime icing and wow your family with your baking talent this Easter or any other special occasion you want! If you do not want the extra sugar, savor the carrot cake without the icing; it tastes amazing too, trust me!
Enjoy and Happy Baking!
For more carrot delights, do try:
Super Moist Carrot and Apple Cake (Eggless)
Step-by-step method to make Carrot Cake with Honey-Lime Icing:
To Make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C. Line an 8-inch round baking dish/pan with parchment paper or grease and flour; set aside.
Place the flour (both the flours or use only one variety, either all maida or all whole wheat), lime zest, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; whisk to combine.
Place the sugar and oil in a mixing bowl and using an electric hand mixer or whisk, beat well. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again until thick and foamy.
With the mixer on low (or by hand), beat 1/3 of the flour mixture into the egg-sugar mixture. Continue adding the flour 1/3rd at a time until the last of the flour is just barely incorporated.
Stir in or fold in the carrots and raisins using a rubber spatula gently until they are just mixed. Do not over mix.
Pour the batter into the baking dish and gently tap the dish a few times against the counter to remove the air bubbles. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove from pan, peel off the parchment paper and cool completely on a wire rack. The cake needs to be completely cool before drizzling the lime icing.
To make the lime icing:
Mix 1 cup icing sugar, honey and 1 tbsp of lime juice in a small bowl; whisk well until smooth and shiny.
Add water/milk (if needed), a few drops at a time to get a thick flowing consistency.
Gently drizzle over the cooled carrot cake and spread gently using a spatula until you see the icing drizzle over the side.
Decorate (optional or as you like it) and place on rack until the icing has completely set.
Enjoy a slice with a cold glass of milk!
Happy Easter Friends!
Carrot cake with honey lime icing; a super moist and luscious cake drizzled with a thin layer of honey and lime infused icing, perfect to celebrate Easter Sunday or to make any occasion extra special!
Ingredients
- ½ cup maida/all purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon grated lime zest
- 6 tbsp oil
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups grated carrot
- ¼ cup raisins
- For the icing:
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- Lime zest
- Water or milk as needed (few teaspoons)
- Few marshmallow rabbits and sugar icing carrots (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C. Line an 8-inch round baking dish/pan with parchment paper or grease and flour; set aside.
- Place the flour (both the flours or use only one variety, either all maida or all whole wheat), lime zest, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; whisk to combine.
- Place the sugar and oil in a mixing bowl and using an electric hand mixer or whisk, beat well. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again until thick and foamy.
- With the mixer on low (or by hand), beat 1/3 of the flour mixture into the egg-sugar mixture.
- Continue adding the flour 1/3rd at a time until the last of the flour is just barely incorporated.
- Stir in or fold in the carrots and raisins using a rubber spatula gently until they are just mixed. Do not over mix.
- Pour the batter into the baking dish and gently tap the dish a few times against the counter to remove the air bubbles. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove from pan, peel off the parchment paper and cool completely on a wire rack. The cake needs to be completely cool before drizzling the lime icing.
- Mix 1 cup icing sugar, honey and 1 tbsp of lime juice in a small bowl; whisk well until smooth and shiny.
- Add water/milk (if needed), a few drops at a time to get a thick flowing consistency.
- Gently drizzle over the cooled carrot cake and spread gently using a spatula until you see the icing drizzle over the sides.
- Decorate (optional and as you like it) and place on rack until the icing has completely set.
- Enjoy a slice with a cold glass of milk!
- Happy Easter Friends!
Notes
You can cover the cooled cake with plastic wrap and store at room temperature to frost the next day.
The unfrosted cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and kept in a refrigerator for a day or two or frozen for up to 3 months.
Store frosted cake, in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
For a healthier option, use only whole wheat flour.
If you are going to ice the cake, you can reduce the sugar a bit; I found the cake a bit too sweet to my liking (although some of my family would disagree as they have a sweet tooth!).
You can enjoy this super moist cake without any icing too!
If you like my posts and recipes, do not forget to Pin, Share, comment in the box below or like my Facebook page ?
Tried the carrot cake today in my new kaff oven. Thank you..it came out super moist
Thanks so much dear Amritha 🙂 Glad you liked it! And congratulations on your new oven 🙂