1 to 2cupsshredded carrots(about 1 to 3 large carrots)
1/4cupextra flour or powdered sugar
For the Filling:
8ouncescream cheeseat room temperature
1/4cupmaple syrup
1teaspoonvanilla
1/2teaspoonground cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., and line a jelly roll pan with a piece of foil long enough to over hang the two short edges just a bit. Spray the foil well with cooking spray, and set the pan aside.
In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, add the eggs and the maple syrup. Beat with an electric mixer or with the whisk attachment of your stand mixer for 5 minutes. The mixture will be very light and puffy.
Add the vanilla to the bowl. Sprinkle the salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and flour over the top of the whipped eggs and then fold the ingredients into the eggs.
Add the shredded carrots and fold into the batter.
Spread the batter into an even, thin layer in the pan, being sure to spread it to the edges and corners of the pan.
Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
While the cake is baking, spread a large clean kitchen towel out and dust it with 1/4 cup flour or powdered sugar (if you are squeamish about raw flour, you can microwave it first).
When the cake comes out of the oven, holding it carefully on the foil ends, flip it, top down onto the prepared kitchen towel. Remove the pan.
Gently remove the foil from the back of the cake.
Starting at the short end of the cake, roll it up inside the towel (pictures in post to help explain).
Roll the cake completely inside the towel and let it rest there until it cools, at least 1 hour.
When you are ready to assemble your carrot cake roll, make the icing by adding the cream cheese, maple syrup, vanilla, and ground cinnamon to a medium mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat on high speed with the whisk attachment or with an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until very light and fluffy.
Carefully unroll the cake inside of the towel.
Spread the filling evenly over the inside of the cake.
Starting at the same short edge that you started rolling the cake up in the towel, roll the cake (without the towel) into a roll.
Transfer your carrot cake roll to a large piece of plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you are ready to serve it. This can be made up to 24 hours in advance.
When you are ready to serve, unroll your cake and dust with powdered sugar if you have it, or simply slice the roll and lay the pieces on a platter.
Notes
Note that this dessert is not very sweet. It's a healthier, less sweet version of the original and you should expect that. If you'd like it sweeter, the additional notes have information on using traditional sugar and powdered sugar.
I tested this recipe a few different ways to help accommodate what you may or may not have at home right now. If you don't have powdered sugar, you can use the flour to dust the towel instead, no issue there.
If you'd like to use all-purpose flour instead of the whole wheat flour, feel free. I did not test this recipe with gluten-free 1:1 baking flour, but I really think it would work. If anyone tries it, will you let the rest of us know in a comment?
You can replace the maple syrup with granulated sugar if you'd like in the cake batter.
You can replace the maple syrup with 1 to 1.5 cups of powdered sugar in the filling if you'd like.
No cream cheese? Try making a buttercream icing for the filling instead. You'll need about 2 cups.
I didn't want any carrot waste so I tried this with a few different amounts, any amount between 1 and 2 cups will work great; just use 2 carrots or whatever you have and use the whole carrots! That being said, try to shred them very finely if you can or chop up your grated carrots a bit with a knife. Because the cooking time is much shorter than traditional carrot cake, larger pieces of carrot didn't soften well when baked, finely grated work much better.