A "Healthy" Slice of Birthday Cake

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

For some reason, many members of my family were born in the fall. I guess Valentine’s Day was a big deal for many of my relatives! The only complaint I have about the plethora of autumn birthdays is that I have to come up with so many gift ideas in a short amount of time.

Birthdays were (and still are) a big deal in my family. When we were kids, my parents threw big birthday bashes for me and my siblings almost every year. I can remember one of my brother’s parties. He was turning six; I was seven. The party was at the local bowling alley and featured a cake crowded with toy cars and trucks.

I wore a powder blue suit, complete with shoulder pads (Hey, it was the Eighties!). And, I cut the cake. I knew the crazy boys couldn’t cut perfectly symmetrical square-shaped slices like I could.

For my 13th birthday, my parents gave me and three of my friends $10 each to go shopping at the mall. The best part was going to lunch all by ourselves at a mall restaurant. We all ordered the same exact meal.

And then, there were what we now call “The Nutcracker Years.” For about eight years in a row, I opted for a birthday at the theater to see the holiday ballet. It was perfect timing. My birthday was the first week of December, which is exactly when Nutcracker opened every year. Needless to say, my parents were slightly overjoyed when I decided to not go see the Nutcracker for the ninth year in a row.

Regardless of where or how birthdays were celebrated, we almost always had a carrot cake to stick the candles in. Dark, sweet, and moist, carrot cake was also healthy for you, especially the way my mom made it with honey and whole wheat flour.

Food historians say that modern carrot cake descended from the Medieval carrot puddings. Also, carrots were used to sweeten cakes and desserts when other sweeteners were scarce and expensive. Carrots are an “old-world” food, meaning that they are native to Europe and Asia and were brought to the United States by European settlers.

The first carrot cake recipe to appear in an American cookbook was in The Twentieth Century Bride's Cookbook, which was published in 1929 by a women’s club in Wichita, Kansas. And cream cheese frosting on carrot cake didn’t appear until the 1960s.

Like my mom, many people consider the carrot cake a “healthy” alternative to other desserts, despite the rich cream cheese frosting that often tops carrot cake.

The traditional carrot cake we know today isn’t the only way it’s been made. In the past, carrot cake has been baked in pastry, like pie; steamed and served with sauce, like a plum pudding; and baked in pans and served with icing (probably the most familiar way today). I’ve also had carrot cake muffins before.

I learned how to make it when I was very young. Shredded carrots soaked in boiling water to soften them were mixed in with dough and raisins. The whole thing was finished off with sweet and silky cream cheese frosting. I don’t really use my crockpot for desserts very often, but I thought carrot cake was the perfect one to try. I don’t want to have to think too hard about what kind of cake to make for all these fall birthdays…I have my hands full choosing presents!

Serves/Makes: 8

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 can (14 ounce size) crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup boiling water