Kid-Friendly Recipes: Organic Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

For my daughter’s first birthday (and first taste of sweetness), we decided a carrot cake would be the healthiest choice. This weekend for an impromptu Memorial Day potluck, we revisited our carrot cake recipe, and this time my daughter got to help make it! Our organic carrot cake was the hit of the party, and it is a great way to use up those funky looking carrots from the garden.

Organic Carrot Cake

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Use butter or oil to grease and flour the bottom of a 13″ x 9″ x 2″ glass pan. Beat with an electric mixer for one minute:

• 1 1/2 cups organic sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs (or egg replacer)

Add and beat for another minute:

• 2 cups organic flour (can use a mixture of whole wheat and unbleached white)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • » See also: Grow Your Own Tree Hugger: 101 Activities to Teach Your Child How to Live Green
  • » Get Eco Child’s Play by RSS or sign up by email.

Add:

• 3 cups organic shredded carrots (about 5 carrots)
• 1 cup chopped organic walnuts

Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick/knife comes out clean from the center. Allow to cool completely before applying cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Combine all ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer:

• 1 1/2 cups organic softened cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 Tablespoons maple syrup

It’s easy to make this recipe vegan by using egg replacer and forgoing the cream cheese frosting. Flax seeds also make a nice addition to the batter. It is delicious no matter how you slice it (or make it)!

Image: John-Morgan on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

More delicious, organic, kid-friendly recipes:

• Kid-Friendly Recipes: Light and Creamy Vegetarian Asparagus Pasta

• Kid-Friendly Recipes: Vegetarian Corn Chowder

• Kid-Friendly Recipes: Organic Tofu Vegetarian Pot Pie

Tweet This Post