Dyn's Spicy Carrot Cake {Easter}

The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf loves to bake...adores spices and loves mustard. So, this spicy carrot cake was the perfect Easter dessert for him to make. We started with this recipe and made some tweaks. This made one 9" layer and one 11" layer - I don't have matching sized pans.

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 3-1/2 C grated organic carrots (some from our High Ground Organics CSA box)
• 1-1/2 C ground almonds
• 1-1/3 C white whole wheat flour
• 2 C organic coconut sugar
• 1-1/2 C softened butter
• 8 eggs
• 2 T prepared yellow mustard
• 2 T spicy mustard
• 3-1/2 T baking powder
• 3 T hazelnuts, raw (I would have chopped them, but D just dumped them in there whole)
• 2 T pistachios, raw
• 2 T chopped dark chocolate
• 1 T pure vanilla extract
• 1 T ground cinnamon 
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground ginger
• dash of ground coriander
• seeds from 3 cardamom pods, crushed

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

• 16 ounces of cream cheese
• 16 T softened butter
• 2 C organic powdered sugar
• 1 T maple-agave syrup

Procedure
Preheat oven to 375°F. Beat the eggs with the pure vanilla extract and stir in the grated carrots, coconut sugar, butter, and mustards in a mixing bowl. Mix in the ground almonds, wheat flour, baking powder, and spices until just moistened. Add in the hazelnuts, pistachios, and dark chocolate. Spoon into a prepared baking dish (lined with parchment and lightly greased).

Cook in a 375°F oven for 45 to 50 minutes. Once cooked, let cool for 5-10 minutes before unmolding. Remove the cakes from the baking molds and let them cool completely before frosting them.

To make the frosting, blend all of the ingredient with a mixer until smooth. Cover the carrot cakes with frosting and let harden for 2 hours, uncovered, before serving.