Moist Brazilian Carrot Cake with Chocolate Marbling

Welcome to The Storied Recipe, a podcast about food, culture, and love.

This Brazilian Carrot Chocolate Cake recipe is from my podcast guest Bee Santo and it represents her life in Brazil, US, and Germany. Listen to her episode, Brazilian Carrot Cake, German Chocolate, and Italian Art!

B's Carrot and Chocolate Cake is based on an easy Brazilian "snack cake" name Bolo de Cenoura that her mother regularly made for her as a child. As B's love of art led her to New York City, then Germany, she adapted her mother's cake into this marbled Chocolate Carrot Cake with a Silky Chocolate Glaze.

The moist, sweet carrot cake is swirled with a deep, chocolatey flavor, then drizzled with a silky chocolate glaze.

If you love this delicious cake made from pantry staples, you'll also love simple Kentucky Butter Cake with a magical glaze from my podcast guest, Cheryl Norris. 

American Carrot Cake vs. Brazilian Carrot Cake

• Both are moist cakes, as are all oil-based cakes 
• Both cakes use simple ingredients, but the Traditional Brazilian Carrot Cake recipe is even more simple. Bolo de Cenoura doesn't use spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves.
• While traditional American carrot cake has cream cheese frosting, traditional Brazilian carrot cake has a chocolate glaze "so sweet it crackles"
• The Brazilian cake takes a little less carrots, so as B says, the beautiful orange color won't be quite the same. (I didn't find the color to be too different)
• B says, "This is the cake my mom could make very quickly; a snack cake". 

B's Adjustments to Make a Carrot Chocolate Cake with Silky Cocoa Glaze

B grew tired of the ultra-sweet, crackly glaze and chose to add a little more chocolate flavor and less sugar to the glaze B heightened the chocolate flavor by adding cocoa powder to 1/3 of the regular carrot cake batter, then swirling the two flavors together

In B's words: "...the bitter chocolate goes so well with the carrot because the carrot is so sweet naturally."

It was hard for me to pick a recipe, to be honest, because I feel like my baking has grew to be a colorful mix of the places I've lived in - Brazil, the US, and Germany. So I felt like the right thing for me to do was to suggest a recipe that is rooted in my childhood memories, my mom's Brazilian carrot cake with chocolate glaze, but that I made my own through the experiences I've had learning how to bake on my own. The marbling is a really good metaphor to represent the person you become when you live abroad, I find. The flavours work together to form a whole, but are distinct enough to never fully disappear within each other. This is how I see myself at the moment too. Made up of different cultural streams that flow together, for the most part, very harmoniously.  

Barbara Santos

Listen to B's Episode

Brazilian Cake, German Chocolate, and Italian Art with B Santos

Follow The Storied Recipe in Your Favorite Player

Ingredients

Cake

• Fresh carrots
• Eggs - always best at room temperature.
• Plain white sugar
• Neutral oil: Vegetable oil, canola, sunflower oil
• Sea salt
• All purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Unsweetened cocoa powder - (try dark chocolate for more of a bitter)
• Baking soda

Chocolate Glaze

• Cocoa powder
• Sugar
• Milk
• Butter
• Salt
• Optional: Top with orange peel

Instructions

• Sift the flour and baking powder in one bowl and the cocoa powder and baking soda into another.
• Add the rest of the cake ingredients into a blender or food processor and "Blend it into oblivion" - until any visible pieces of carrot are quite small - just flecks
• Use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to delicately blend the flour mixture into the oil mixture.
• Alternate carrot cake batter, chocolate mixture, then carrot cake batter again. Swirl together.
• While cake cools, make glaze by whisking all ingredients together into a smooth mixture in small saucepan over medium heat.
• When glaze is thick enough to show pan when scraping, pour over top of the cake

Variations

• Usually B's mom's easy carrot cake recipe was made in a simple 9x13 cake pan. You can easily just plop spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture across the 9x13 pan, swirl, cook and serve that way.
• Because this is all about merging cultures, tastes, and preferences, feel free to top with cream cheese frosting (but try B's glaze first!)
• Top with a traditional Brigadeiro frosting made from sweetened condensed milk - it's thick like chocolate fudge.
• Use this recipe to make Brazilian carrot cupcakes with a frosting of your choice. 
• Garnish with orange peel, if desired.

Equipment

• Food processor or Blender
• Bundt pan 
• My favorite small saucepan

Storage

• Leave covered on the counter or in the fridge up to 3 days.
• Freeze up to 3 months.

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Recipe

Brazilian Carrot Cake with Chocolate Marbling

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5 from 5 reviews

• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 11 servings 1x

Print Recipe

Description

Sweet Brazilian carrot cake swirls with denser dark chocolate. Topped with a silky cocoa glaze.

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

Cake

• 170 -200g carrots, peeled
• 4 large eggs
• 250 g (1 1/4 cups) sugar
• 200 g (1 cup) oil
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 240 g (2 cups) flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 40 g (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Glaze

• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 generous pinch of salt

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Instructions

Cue Up The Episode!

Make sure you listen to B's episode, Brazilian Chocolate Cake, German Chocolate, and Italian Arts while you make her delicious Carrot and Chocolate Marbled Cake with Silky Cocoa glaze!

Make The Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
2. Grease and flour a large bundt pan. (*see notes)
3. Sift the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.
4. Mix the cocoa powder and baking soda in another small bowl.
5. Add to a blender the eggs, carrots, sugar, oil, and salt.
6. Blend until smooth and there are only tiny flecks of carrot.
7. Gently fold the sifted flour and baking powder into the oil and carrot mixture, incorporating delicately.
8. Transfer one-third of the batter to a smaller bowl. Now mix the cocoa powder and baking soda into the batter.
9. Pour half of the carrot cake mixture into the pan.
10. Spoon the chocolate mixture on top.
11. Finally, pour the last half of the carrot cake mixture into the pan.
12. Using a knife, swirl the 2 mixtures together.
13. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
14. Allow to rest in the pan for 15 minutes.
15. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

• Make sure you listen to B's episode, Brazilian Chocolate Cake, German Chocolate, and Italian Arts while you make her delicious Carrot and Chocolate Marbled Cake with Silky Cocoa glaze!
• Another podcast guest, Cheryl Norris, taught me to make a pan release for bundt pans by melting 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of butter together, then using a pastry brush to paint it onto a bundt pan. It's never failed me!

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Category: Baking, Cake, Dessert
• Cuisine: Brazilian, German

Nutrition

• Calories: 783
• Sugar: 70
• Sodium: 888
• Fat: 25
• Saturated Fat: 4
• Carbohydrates: 136
• Fiber: 29
• Protein: 15
• Cholesterol: 74