| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 3 hr |
| Prep: | 45 min |
| Inactive: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (about 4 medium carrots)
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 24 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 16 marshmallows
- 5 to 6 drops orange gel food coloring
Instructions
- Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two 9-inch-round cake pans with cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Coat the parchment with cooking spray and dust with flour, tapping out the excess. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice and salt into a medium bowl. Beat the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, applesauce and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the carrots with a rubber spatula.
- Divide the batter between the prepared pans; bake until each cake pulls away slightly from the side of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool 10 minutes in the pans, then invert onto the rack to cool completely; remove the parchment.
- Meanwhile, make the frosting: Heat the heavy cream until almost simmering in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and butter and let sit, without stirring, 5 minutes; stir until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.
- Place one cake layer on a platter. Spread the top with 1 cup frosting; refrigerate until the frosting is set, about 10 minutes. Top with the second cake layer and spread a thin layer of frosting on the top and side; refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes. Cover the cake with the remaining frosting.
- Make the web topping: Beat the marshmallows and food coloring in a large bowl with a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on low speed until the marshmallows break up, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until glossy and smooth. Using two forks, pull out about 1 tablespoon of marshmallow at a time, stretch into thin strands and drape over the top of the cake to create a web. Photograph by Kate Mathis
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 1102 |
| Total Fat | 69 g |
| Saturated Fat | 24 g |
| Carbohydrates | 123 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Sugar | 88 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 129 mg |
| Sodium | 339 mg |
Reviews
Every is so delicious and fun to make.
Love to see how to decorate and see New Ideas!
Love to see how to decorate and see New Ideas!
I don’t believe you need all those marshmallows. Maybe about 10 and 7-8 drops of orange coloring…
Chocolate frosting again don’t need all of that maybe only 3/4 what the recipe calls for.
Overall it was delicious!
Great recipe without the icing and with less sugar (trying to lower calorie intake.) My whole family loved it. I wanna try it using my waffle iron!
I used this recipe for cupcakes, instead of cake. They were amazing! The cake has great flavor and is very moist. I made some with the chocolate frosting and some with a cream cheese frosting. It was delicious both ways!
This was a delicious dessert. Time consuming to make, but tasted wonderful and looked impressive. Everyone at book club loved it.
Best carrot cake ever! Light and moist. And chocolate frosting takes it to the new more sophisticated level. The only modification I made was on the amount of chocolate in frosting, 11-12 oz is more than enough!
We loved the carrot cake. It turned out great for us. It was moist and light and we will make the cake part of this recipe again. The chocolate frosting, however, did not work with the cake. This cake was the perfect example of art selling magazines. People look at it and see a delicious looking cake. However, the chocolate does not work with this cake. It looks pretty on the cover of the magazine but what a disappointment to eat. As we were making the frosting we realized it wasn’t going to work so we only put it only in the middle layer and iced the outside with a cream cheese frosting. As we at the cake we just cut the chocolate middle part out as we ate! The rest was great.
Best cake ever! Absolutely moist and delicious. I have a tree nut allergy and most carrot cakes include them. To finally enjoy a carrot cake and with chocolate is amazing! The best take away is the marshmallow webbing. SUPER FUN! Can’t wait to make this again and again!
We enjoy carrot cake, but this recipe is a failure. It is heavy/dense and dry. The chocolate topping/frosting has a funny taste combined with the cake. We did not put the webbing on it. We will eat it as to not waste it, but definitely will not be making it again. We do not recommend this recipe. Just not the best in regards to taste and texture.