Easter Planted Carrots Cake Recipe (Carrot Garden) - Lauren's Latest (2024)

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Carrots made from frosting and dirt made of crushed Oreo’s on top of a delicious Easter Planted Carrots Cake makes a fun and festive Spring dessert. Or if you aren’t a cake person, try these Cadbury Egg Cookies!

Easter Planted Carrots Cake Recipe (Carrot Garden) - Lauren's Latest (1)

Easter Planted Carrots Cake | So Cute!

Incredibly cute and incredibly delicious, make this chocolate Easter Dirt Easter Planted Carrots Cake this year for Easter! I used my fan favorite Perfect Chocolate Cake Recipe and a chocolate sour cream frosting which are both SO easy to make. The results? An impressive and festive cake.

Main Ingredients Needed for Easter Cake

This Easter Cake has a couple of different layers to it, but you really don’t need a whole lot of skill to make this either. Simple steps to a fabulous final product. It’s a super adorable cake for Easter and mighty tasty too. Here’s what you’ll need:

For the Cake

You can find the ingredients list here for the chocolate cake, minus the frosting and the chocolate chips.

For the Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

  • Salted Butter – softened, for flavor and consistency.
  • Cocoa Powder –for chocolatey flavor! Try mixing in a bit of espresso powder to bring out the chocolate flavor even more.
  • Powdered Sugar –this helps fill the frosting and sweetens it.
  • Vanilla –for flavor.
  • Sour Cream –this adds flavor, moisture and smooths out the frosting.

For the Frosting Carrots

  • Salted Butter – softened, for flavor and consistency.
  • Powdered Sugar –to sweeten and fill out the frosting.
  • Vanilla –for flavor.
  • Orange Food Coloring –this creates the orange little carrot tops you see on the cake. Make sure not to add too much food coloring!
  • Milk –this helps combine all the ingredients and loosens up the frosting.
  • Fresh Mint Leaves –the leaves that top the carrots. SO cute and edible!

Extra Decor

  • Oreo Cookies –crushed to make the dirt around the carrots.
  • Mini Cadbury Eggs –these candies line the bottom seam of the cake.
Easter Planted Carrots Cake Recipe (Carrot Garden) - Lauren's Latest (2)

How to Make Easter Cake

For full details on how to make Easter Cake, see the recipe card down below.

Step 1: Prep

Preheat oven. In 9×13 pan,spray glass pan with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.

Step 2: Make Batter

In a large bowl,whip oil and sugar together.Stir invanilla.In a measuring cup, stiralmond milk and vinegartogether. Set aside to curdle. In a different bowl,stir all dry ingredients togetheruntil evenly mixed.Alternate mixing in wet and dry ingredientsto the batterstarting and ending with dry.

Step 3: Bake + Cool

Pour evenly into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs after being inserted. Cool 15 minutes, then remove the cake from warm pans to a cooling rack. Cool Easter Dirt Cake completely.

Easter Planted Carrots Cake Recipe (Carrot Garden) - Lauren's Latest (3)

Step 4: Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

Take an extra close gander at all that creamy goodness!! It’s semi-similar to chocolate cream cheese frosting but is really its own entity. I am *slightly* obsessed with it now. Make this Easter Dirt Cake just for the frosting. Or just make the frosting and eat it with a spoon.

To make the chocolate sour cream frosting, mix butter, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar together to incorporate butter throughout the sugar. The mixture will be dry. Stir in vanilla and sour cream. Scrape sides and whip until completely smooth.

Spread frosting over the entire cake.

Step 5: Assemble Cake

In a small bowl, whip all ingredients for the orange frosting (carrots) until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with the Wilton 1A tip (wide round tip). Pipe 3 to 4 rows of 3 even rounds or dollops onto the chocolate frosting creating the tops of the carrots. Top each carrot with a sprig of mint.

Spreadcrushed Oreo cookiesaround each frosting carrot to create the dirt.

Finally, line the edges of the entire cake withmini Cadbury eggs. Cut Easter Cake into pieces and serve.

Easter Planted Carrots Cake Recipe (Carrot Garden) - Lauren's Latest (4)

Want to Make Cupcakes Instead?

To bake Easter Cupcakes, line 24 muffin tins with paper liners,fill 2/3 of the way full and bake 15 minutes.

Cover cooled cupcake tops with chocolate frosting (no need to pipe things on, a butter knife will do), then pipe a little carrot on the top and garnish with mint.

Finally add a Cadbury chocolate egg next to the carrot and sprinkle the surrounding chocolate frosting with Oreo crumbs!

More Easter Treats to Try!

  • Marshmallow Potato Chip Easter Nests
  • Easter Bunny Cake
  • Peanut Butter Eggs
  • Orange Cupcakes
  • Easter Cookie Dough Filled Rice Krispies Treats
  • Banana Pudding Recipe

The printable recipe card for Easter Planted Carrots Cake is below. Save it, pin it, print it, make it. You know the drill. Have a wonderful day, friends!

If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you wouldgive it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.

5 from 14 votes

Easter Cake

Carrots made from frosting and dirt made of crushed Oreo's on top of a delicious Easter Planted Carrots Cake makes a fun and festive Spring dessert.

servings 18 servings

Prep Time 2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe Perfect Chocolate Cake baked in a 9×13 pan and cooled

for the frosting:

for the 'carrots':

  • 1/4 cup butter salted, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
  • orange food coloring
  • 1-2 tsp milk
  • 9 sprigs fresh mint
  • 12 Oreo Cookies crushed
  • 1 bag mini Cadbury eggs

Instructions

  • Follow instructions in linked recipe to make the chocolate cake. Place cooled baked cake onto a serving platter and set aside.

  • To make the chocolate sour cream frosting, mix butter, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar together 1-2 minutes to incorporate butter throughout the sugar. The mixture will be dry. Stir in vanilla and sour cream. Scrape sides and whip 2 minutes or until completely smooth. Spread frosting over the entire cake.

  • In a small bowl, whip all ingredients for the orange frosting {carrots} until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with the Wilton 1A tip {wide round tip}. Pipe 3 to 4 rows of 3 even rounds or dollops onto the chocolate frosting creating the tops of the carrots. Top each carrot with a sprig of mint. Spread crushed oreo cookies around each frosting carrot to create the dirt.

  • Finally, line the edges of the entire cake with mini Cadbury eggs. Cut into pieces and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 731kcal | Carbohydrates: 108g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 53mg | Sodium: 324mg | Potassium: 185mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 88g | Vitamin A: 305IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 10mg

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate cake, easter cake, easter dirt cake

Easter Planted Carrots Cake Recipe (Carrot Garden) - Lauren's Latest (2024)

FAQs

Why my carrot cake didn t rise? ›

First, check your rising agent. Most carrot cake recipes use baking soda. Make sure you actually used baking soda and not baking powder (this, by the way, can also really mess with the taste). Make sure you used the correct amounts.

Why is carrot cake so good? ›

A combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar (either light or dark) makes for a moist, flavorful cake. Spices. Both cinnamon and nutmeg create the perfect spice profile that pairs so well with the brown sugar, carrots, and nuts.

Is carrot cake better the next day? ›

Carrot cake usually tastes better the next day, so it's a great recipe to make ahead of time. Simply keep it covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Is butter or oil better for carrot cake? ›

Oil-Based Cakes: Carrot cake recipes often use vegetable oil (e.g., canola or sunflower oil) instead of butter as the primary fat. Oil-based cakes tend to be moister and have a softer, more tender crumb. The mild flavor of vegetable oil also allows the carrot and spice flavors to shine through.

Why does my homemade carrot cake fall in the middle? ›

This is because too much batter in one cake tin may result in the weight of the batter being too much for the cake to support, causing the cake to collapse and sink in the middle as it bakes. This is especially true for cake recipes which have a more softer, delicate structure to them, which many of my cake recipes do.

Should I refrigerate carrot cake before frosting? ›

Cream cheese frosting and carrot cake are a little unruly when they're warm, so the fridge is your friend. The cake itself is much easier to frost and slice when it's been refrigerated — the soft, moist crumb contracts when it's chilled and doesn't tear or fall apart as easily.

What is the toothpick test on carrot cake? ›

The idea behind this test is you can insert a toothpick or paring knife into the center of the cake to see if the crumb has set. If the tester comes out clean, it's done. If it comes out gummy or with crumbs clinging to it, the cake needs more time in the oven.

Why is my carrot cake too moist? ›

Why is my carrot cake too moist? Keep the extra nuts and, god forbid, coconut out of things, and definitely don't add pineapple—it'll make the batter too moist. Carrot cake is oil-based, rather than butter-based.

Why does my carrot cake taste bitter? ›

Using baking powder (a chemical leavening agent) often becomes tricky. How much is enough to leaven dense, oil-based cakes like carrot cake? Sometimes, we end up using too much baking powder to help this type of cake rise, and this mistake can unfortunately make them taste bitter or like chemicals.

What country invented carrot cake? ›

Carrot cake is thought to have originated in England where housewives used sweet products (e.g carrots) to naturally sweeten their confections during World War II.

What is the difference between white and black carrot cake? ›

Commonly referred to as 'chai tow kway' in the Teochew dialect, these smooth and soft fried rice cakes can be found in almost every hawker centre. It is served black (fried with sweet dark soya sauce) or white (original).

Should carrot cake be served cold or room temperature? ›

Because carrot cake is made with cream cheese frosting, I would store it in the refrigerator. It can be served cold, slightly chilled or at room temperature but I prefer slightly chilled.

How fine should carrots be grated for carrot cake? ›

It's true that carrots are the star of the show, but aim for finely grated pieces rather than chunky. The finer you grate the carrots, the more evenly they will be distributed throughout the cake (for the perfect texture), and the more evenly the cake and the carrots will bake.

Can you eat carrot cake that was left out overnight? ›

If you want to keep carrot cake in tip-top shape from beginning to end, the FDA recommends that you don't leave it on the counter for any longer than two hours.

How do you fix a cake that hasn't risen? ›

If you check a cake and it still has batter in the middle, it may just not have had time to rise yet. Put it back in the oven for 5-10 minutes, keeping an eye on it to make sure you don't overdo it. You may still get your cake to rise.

What to do if cake does not rise? ›

Check your oven is at the correct temperature. If it is too hot, the cake doesn't have time to rise, and if it is too cold it will rise too high and then sink at the end.

What to do when cake doesn t rise? ›

  1. Make sure your butter is room temperature, and beat the butter and sugar together until properly creamed. This should look really smooth and pale.
  2. Be careful with the cake batter. Fold the ingredients together, not beating them, as this will keep the mixture aerated.
  3. Check your oven is at the correct temperature.
Aug 25, 2023

What would cause a cake not to rise? ›

Cakes that don't rise properly or have a surface covered in little holes are often the result of not getting the cake into the oven quickly enough; a common mistake that happens because you forgot to turn the oven on before you started, or you get distracted with something else mid-way through mixing.

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