Oktoberfest Carrot Cake

Husband has been experimenting with making beer. I've been experimenting with making desserts to pair with his beer. It's a nice little combined hobby we share.

For Husband's birthday last year we sampled a nice bottle of craft beer called Three Philosophers Beer with Godiva dark chocolate and an award-winning Raspberry BellaVitano cheese by Sartori. Amazing combination.

As we continued to investigate flavors and food pairings, I knew I needed to find a good recipe for carrot cake that supposedly would go well with Husband's IPA.

I found a "healthy" recipe for Carrot Cake from Tiffany at Nature Moms Blog and adapted it a little using ingredients I already had on hand. My biggest issue with Carrot Cake is the amount of sugar in it, so this was an interesting alternative.

As I mentioned before, I originally made this to pair with Husband's IPA which has a fruity aroma and four different kinds of hops in it. But after taste testing it, Husband says this cake will go better with his Oktoberfest beer because of the applesauce in it. (Hence, the cake's name.)

Aside from the fact that I now need to come up with a different dessert recipe to go with his IPA, what I find really intriguing is the texture of the cake itself. Very hard to explain, extremely moist, somewhat dense, not sweet at all, but the cream cheese frosting makes up for the lack of sweetness.

Oktoberfest Carrot Cake

1 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2  teaspoons baking soda
2  teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

2 cups grated carrots

2 1/2 cups applesauce

1 cup skim milk
1 cup pancake syrup*

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg light cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 - 2 cups confectioner's sugar (depending on how sweet you want frosting.)
1 teaspoon vanilla

*Original recipe called for real maple syrup, but I didn't have any, so I used what we

had in the fridge!

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray one 13x9 pan with cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool before frosting it. Make frosting and spread over cake.

So maybe it didn't go with his IPA, but the pan is already almost empty. With or without beer, it tastes great! Enjoy!