Italian Carrot Cake (Torta di Carote)

What could be better than a slice of Italian carrot cake or Torta di Carote for breakfast? You will love this sweet, moist treat with an unforgettable flavor and taste. It's a perfect way to end your day, either dinner or just dessert.

The Italian version of the carrot cake is not complicated; indeed, it is perfect for beginners.

This cake has a soft and moist consistency. It makes the perfect dessert with just enough carrot taste to give off an irresistible flavor without being too heavy on your taste buds.

You will be amazed to discover a carrot cake, a great classic made without warm spices, dried fruit, and cream cheese frosting.

But its carrot and orange collaborate well to create one of the most beautiful aromas.

The cake has a tiny twist on Brazilian carrot cake (Bolo de Cenoura in Portuguese), which is blending carrots with oil. This gives the cake that gorgeous yellow-orange coloring.

Jump to:

• Why you should try this recipe
• Ingredients
• How to make Italian carrot cake
• Recipe variations
• Storing and freezing
• Expert tips
• Frequently asked questions
• Love Italian desserts? Try these next!
• Need to adjust your baking pan size?
• Recipe card
• Comments

Why you should try this recipe

Torta di Carote is a lighter alternative to a traditional carrot cake recipe, without the addition of spices, butter, and milk.

Carrots help make up for the lack of sugar by giving the cake an extra kick of flavor and natural sweetness.

Carrot cake is a delicious and nutritious morning snack that you can take with ease on the go.

You can bring it to the office as a part of your lunch box or make it for your kids' break at school.

This deliciously soft, moist cake is a must for any occasion, and the whole family will love it.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making the recipe as written for the best results.

Also, read How To Make A Cake Moist.

Carrots: they are the main ingredient of the cake. Choose fresh, firm, and bright-colored vegetables - also, it is always better to buy them with their green tops attached.

Flour: use all-purpose flour or replace ⅓ of flour with almond flour.

Oil: the recipe calls for sunflower oil, but you can replace it with peanut oil, olive oil, or flavorless grapeseed oil.

To make the cake lighter, replace the oil with the same amount of plain yogurt.

Sugar: use granulated sugar or caster sugar if desired. You can experiment with adding brown sugar too.

Eggs: the recipe calls for large eggs at room temperature.

Orange zest: make it fresh from untreated medium orange using a zester grater or replace it with lemon zest.

Baking powder: fresh aluminum-free baking powder is the best in baking.

Powdered sugar: it is used to dust the top of the cake.

How to make Italian carrot cake

Wash and peel carrots with a vegetable peeler. Cut them into slices. Transfer carrots to a food processor and chop them finely.

Add the sunflower oil and continue to blend until the mixture turns out to carrot cream (photo 1).

Using a flour sifter, sift all-purpose flour with baking powder a few times in a separate bowl; set aside.

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C/350 degrees F. Brush an 8-inch/20 cm round cake pan with softened butter and flour it.

Place sugar and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 1 to 2 minutes (photo 2).

Add orange zest (photo 3) and creamy pureed carrot mixture and beat again.

Add the flour mixture a little at a time and mix gently with a rubber spatula, making movements from top to bottom (photo 4).

Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and smooth the surface of the batter (photo 5).

Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes, until golden brown (photo 6).

Check the cake with a toothpick test: the cake is ready if it comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Let it cool for a couple of minutes before unmolding it to prevent the cake from breaking.

If you bake the cake in a Le Creuset springform pan, you can remove the cake immediately.

Once cooled down completely, dust the cake with plenty of powdered sugar and decorate it with candied carrots.

Recipe variations

This Italian carrot cake is the ultimate versatile treat, and you can indeed twist it into countless shapes and flavors.

You will love how this classic recipe tastes when served fresh from the oven with just enough powdered sugar on top and a few candied carrots.

To make the cake even more delicious, you can top it with a luscious cream cheese frosting.

Or you can garnish your cake with chocolate ganache and serve it as dessert at the end of your meal or for a birthday party.

Also, try to enrich this carrot cake with the addition of 1 oz. or 30 g unsweetened cocoa powder and some chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate.

You can replace ⅓ of all-purpose flour with almond flour to give a particular rusticity to the batter.

The addition of 1.4 oz. or 40 grams of chopped almonds to the batter will give your dessert an extra boost with their crunchiness.

To make the carrot cake for adults, add one tablespoon of Arancello orange liqueur to give it a fresh new take on an old classic.

Vanilla extract or orange juice is a simple and effective way to add additional flavor to your cake.

Finally, if you want to make single-portioned easy carrot cake muffins called Le Camille in Italian, just divide the batter between muffin cups and bake.

Or you can use a hemisphere pan to create an elegant dome-shaped cake with carrot flavors, resembling a classic Camilla cake (Torta Camilla in Italian).

Storing and freezing

Italian carrot cake tastes even better the next day when the flavors settle.

The cake should be stored at room temperature under a glass dome cake stand, in an airtight container, or covered with plastic film for 3 to 4 days. It will remain soft and moist.

Can you freeze it? According to Italian chefs, freezing carrot torte is not recommended.

Expert tips

1. Blend the carrots with oil longer (up to 5-6 minutes) if desired. In this case, they will be blended perfectly with the batter.
2. Use a hand mixer to make the cake batter if preferred.
3. You can also grate carrots very finely if you don't have a food processor.
4. Using a silicone mold doesn't need to be buttered and floured before adding the batter.

Frequently asked questions

Love Italian desserts? Try these next!

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from www.chiarapassion.com.