Carrot Peeling Cake with Cinnamon Icing

This carrot peeling cake uses just that - carrot peelings! It's a delicious way to reduce food waste. I've then topped the cake with a fragrant cinnamon icing.

Vegetable Cake

Obviously I'm obsessed with vegetable cakes. However, I tend to go for the rather wacky ones, like kale and apple cake or cucumber and lemon cake.

Carrot cake is so mainstream that I don't tend to make it that often. I wanted to fix that and blog about a carrot cake, but I wanted it to have a twist. So this one is a carrot peeling cake!

Carrot Cake

Carrot peelings are often discarded, but they're perfectly edible of course. You don't actually need to peel carrots, but if you’re peeling them for dinner, wash the carrots well first and then turn them into a carrot cake! If you don’t have enough peelings, just peel off more from the carrots or even add peelings from parsnips or other root vegetables.

I tend to use organic carrots for this cake, but of course any will do.  One day I'll be green-fingered enough to use home grown carrots. I have a few seedlings that I planted with the kids, so wish us luck!

Reduce Food Waste

Carrot peelings don't have to go straight to the compost bin. There are plenty of ways to use them up! Ideally you'll choose organic, then wash the carrots before peeling.

• Save carrot peelings, along with other veg scraps, in a jar in the freezer. When you have time, turn them into homemade vegetable stock.
• Toss the peelings in a little oil, then season with salt and pepper and bake them on a baking sheet in a hot oven for a few minutes until crispy.
• Add carrot peelings to a smoothie with ginger, banana and orange juice.
• Chop them up finely and add to oatmeal along with cinnamon for carrot cake porridge.
• Wind them into pretty shapes as an edible decoration, like in my carrot Moscow mule.
• Cook the peelings into a soup or stew.

Go organic

Organic produce not only has less environmental impact, but because they don’t have heavy pesticide residues, you can use even more of them.

Granted, organic produce is a bit more expensive, but if you use up all of the edible parts of the plants, then you get more meals out of it. That will bring the cost down.

If your organic carrots come with their greens attached, even better! You could add them to a soup, whiz them into pesto or snip them into a salad.

Using up all the other parts of plants, from parsnips to potatoes, it’s amazing how many dishes you can make with the ‘waste’ rather than just sending it to the compost bin.

Looking for other interesting uses for carrots? Try these!
Carrot crust pizza with carrot sauce. 
Carrot Cinnamon Soda Bread

If you make this recipe, please tag it with #veggiedesserts on Instagram or other social media. I LOVE seeing your recreations of my recipes. 

Get the Carrot Peeling Cake Recipe

Carrot Peeling Cake with Cinnamon Icing

Carrot Peeling Cake with Cinnamon Icing Recipe Type : Dessert Author: Kate @ Veggie Desserts Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 55 mins Serves: 10 This typical carrot cake uses carrot peelings! It's a delicious way to reduce food waste.

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: 10

390 kcal

Author: Kate Hackworthy | Veggie Desserts

Ingredients

• 3 handfuls of peelings from washed organic carrots
• 3 large organic free-range eggs
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
• 1 cup (120g) plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (75g) raisins
• 1 1/2 cup (200g) self-raising wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• pinch of sea salt

For the Cinnamon Icing

• 1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups (200g) powdered icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp milk
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a 9” cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.
• Gather all of the peeling scraps and blitz in a blender or hand blender until finely grated. Set aside.
• In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, yogurt and vanilla together well. Stir in the finely grated carrot and raisins.
• Sift in the flour, baking powder, spices and salt (adding any sieved out bran back into the bowl) and gently mix.
• Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
• Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then remove to cool completely.
• For the cinnamon icing, beat the butter until smooth, then add the powdered icing sugar, vanilla, milk and cinnamon and beat to combine. Frost the cake when it is completely cool.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 390kcal Carbohydrates: 52g Protein: 4g Fat: 19g Saturated Fat: 14g Cholesterol: 69mg Sodium: 88mg Potassium: 274mg Fiber: 2g Sugar: 34g Vitamin A: 285IU Vitamin C: 0.5mg Calcium: 90mg Iron: 0.9mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @kateveggiedesserts or tag #veggiedesserts!

The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors, so is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietician for special diet advice.