Dijon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting | Renee's Kitchen Adventures

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Dijon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting


Mustard in a carrot cake?  Yes siree. Zesty Dijon mustard gives this carrot cake recipe from scratch extra flavor, without overpowering the taste!  Carrots, golden raisins, coconut, walnuts and of course, Maille ® Rich Country Dijon give this moist (and lower fat) carrot cake pizzazz! If you are a mustard fan, you are going to love this easy carrot cake recipe featuring Dijon mustard!

One slice of Dijon Carrot Cake sitting on a white plate with a fork. Dijon mustard jar in the background



When Maille® asked Michele of Flavor Mosaic to review their products, she presented them with the idea of a collaborative blog progressive Easter Menu using their award winning mustards in each course and included myself and two other bloggers in the fun.  I was asked to create a dessert course using a Maille® mustard!

(Disclaimer: Maille® supplied me with the full range of products available in the US for review.  All opinions expressed in this post are mine.)


I decided to make a carrot cake. Because, what's Easter without carrot cake?

Am I right?

Dijon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting on white plate in front of a stack of plates with a green napkin and a jar of Dijon mustard and pink flowers in the background

How to add zest to your carrot cake


Maille's® Rich Country Dijon was the perfect mustard variety to compliment the flavors of this cake.

Rich Country Dijon is a variation on their Original Dijon but with the addition of ginger and cinnamon, making it the ideal choice to add to a dessert like carrot cake. It truly is, rich and creamy, almost mayonnaise like, in texture with little gorgeous specks of whole grain mustard seeds that add a little "pop"!

Dijon mustard jar used to make Dijon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting sitting atop a stack of white plates with a green napkin with pink flowers in the background

Substitute Applesauce for some of the oil in carrot cake to lighten it up


Besides the addition of mustard, this carrot cake recipe from scratch also has coconut and pineapple in it, as well as applesauce. Applesauce in this recipe replaces half the oil. The combination of unsweetened applesauce and canola oil helps to keep the saturated fat and calories in check, because many carrot cake recipes (although the name implies they are a healthy choice) are not as healthy as they sound!

To help lighten up this cake from the original recipe inspiration I found on Allrecipes, I also decided to use reduced fat cream cheese in the frosting!

Although this is a somewhat healthier carrot cake recipe than most, it's still incredibly moist and you cannot tell it's a lighter version!
carrot cake, carrot cake recipes from scratch, carrot cake with pineapple
Dessert, cake
American
Yield: 24 servings
Author: Renee Paj
Dijon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Dijon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 1 Hour
Easy to make, delicious, moist carrot cake with all the flavors you love, carrots, walnuts, golden raisins, and a bit of zip thanks to the addition of Dijon mustard!

Ingredients

For the Carrot Cake
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 TBSP Maille® Rich Country Dijon Mustard
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups shredded carrot
  • 1 cup flaked coconut
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 8 oz. crushed pineapple in 100% juice, not drained
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 8 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese, room temperature
  • 2 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9" x 13" baking pan with cooking spray.
  2. In large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, Set aside.
  3. In a medium sized bowl, or large glass measure, combine the sugar, applesauce, oil, eggs, mustard and vanilla extract.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Add in the carrots, coconut, walnuts, raisins, and pineapple.
  5. Pour cake into prepared baking dish and smooth top. Bake for 40 -45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. (Middle may sink a little as it cools, that's ok!) Let cake cool completely.
  6. To make frosting: Combine the cream cheese, butter and salt. Mix with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar a cup at a time, beating with each addition. Spread over cooled cake.
  7. Store frosted cake in refrigerator until ready to serve. Refrigerate leftovers.

Notes

Nutritional Information is an estimate

Nutrition Facts

Calories

243.56

Fat (grams)

9.19 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

2.40 g

Cholesterol (grams)

26.67 mg

Carbs (grams)

38.94 g

Fiber (grams)

1.45 g

Sugar (grams)

28.32 g

Net carbs

37.49 g

Protein (grams)

2.78 g

Sodium (milligrams)

316.67 mg
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Dijon Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting pin for Pinterest




And now that we've had dessert first, let's move onto the rest of this delicious menu featuring several different Maille® products! 

From The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch, a fresh salad.  Honey Dijon Spinach Salad 


From Flavor Mosaic, this delicious entree!  Pork Loin with Dijon Cream Sauce and Cornichons 


And, from Life Tastes Good an amazing side dish!  Caramelized Onion Smashed Potatoes


Even more recipes with mustard you might like!

*Note: This post originally contained a giveaway for Maille product. The giveaway is long over and the script for the giveaway has been removed to make viewing this post and it's recipe easier for you! 

25 comments:

  1. Renee, your cake is amazing and beautiful! I'm definitely going to thive this a try, I'm sure it will make Grumpy "happy" :)

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  2. What a beautiful cake! Don is always asking me to make a carrot cake! I'll have to give this one a try!

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  3. I love using mustard in salad dressings- so yummy!!! I can't believe its good in cake! I totally want to try this

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  4. Renee, your carrot cake looks beautiful! We love carrot cake and Maille Mustard. I'm going to have to try this recipe. Thanks for participating in our Progressive Easter Dinner!

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  5. Fantastic! I bet the Maile Mustard cut some of that sweetness you usually get with frosting. Looks wonderful.

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  6. I love the idea of mustard in a carrot cake - innovative and delicious :)

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  7. I have mustard on my sandwich almost every day but I love it on a hot dog or corn dog!

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  8. That looks so delicious! What a great idea! <3

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  9. My favorite way to use mustard is in salad dressings. Thank you for the giveaway.

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  10. I lovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelove that you put mustard in this! :) What anamazing idea! I want to go raid my cupboards now to see what amazing things I can my mustard in! lol!

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  11. What an interesting idea to add dijon to this! I may have to give it a try, since it's really sounding so interesting to me!

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  12. I love using it in marinades for chicken and pork.

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  13. I must try this cake, both because it looks really good and has mustard in it!

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  14. Oh very interesting! I'm just a fan of dipping stuff into mustard...especially pretzels.

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  15. I love anything with mustard, I am going to try that next time I make carrot cake, which won't be until September for my hubs birthday - my recipe has 2 cups of oil in it, so it's a once a year treat.

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  16. Incorporating mustard into a dessert is no easy task but you have done an incredible job, my friend. I'd love to give this one a try!

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  17. I love mustard but never thought of incorporating it into a cake. I'm not a huge sweet fan but I do like a good carrot cake once in a while...I think I will give this one a try and it would be great for Easter. Thanks for sharing!!

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  18. The cake, in fact the whole meal looks delicious...I'll have to pick up some of the different types of mustard (or use what I get if I win the giveaway!) and experiment on my own!

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  19. I like to use mustard in salad dressing.

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  20. I love dijon mustard in salad dressing. It makes it SO much better. I also use dijon in pan sauces, marinades, spread on chicken, fish, or pork before baking...It's an essential ingredient in my kitchen.

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  21. OK - I MUST try that Carrot cake! Must!
    Nothing better than a good Mustard!

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  22. Looks so amazing!

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  23. I am SO not a sweet-eater, but I adore carrot cake! Yours looks & sounds fantastic!

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