Apple Pecan Carrot Squares

Submitted by sszz907

"You can enjoy this healthy and delicious dessert any time of day. A twist on the traditional carrot cake, this recipe produces a moist and flavorful bar-type cake with a delectable apple pecan topping."

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• Cake

• 1 cup oats
• 1⁄2 cup white flour
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⁄2 cup golden raisin
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1⁄2 cup applesauce
• 1⁄2 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• Topping

• 1 golden delicious apple, sliced
• 1⁄4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons vanilla yogurt
• 1⁄2 cup pecan halves
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a _x_ inch pan.
2. Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl mix the shredded carrot, applesauce, yogurt, egg, and vanilla together.
4. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the second bowl. Add in the golden raisins.
5. Pour the cake batter into the pan.
6. Put the apple slices into a bowl and add in the maple syrup, lemon juice, and yogurt. Mix the contents together to coat the apple slices.
7. Spread the apple slices on top of the cake batter and pour out all of the syrup mix.
8. Arrange the pecan halves on top of everything and sprinkle on the remaining 3 tablespoons of brown sugar.
9. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Let the cake cool for five minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

Reviews

[LUv 2 BaKE]

I was so excited to see a RSC cake/square recipe that didn't use any added fat like oil or butter in the recipe! Unfortuately I had a lot of trouble with this recipe. I would have liked to see a cup measurement of the amount of carrots instead of or as well as the number of carrots. I chose what I thought were two small-medium carrots, but it looked like a lot of carrot after grating them. With a cup amount I would have been sure this is the correct amount. I am not sure if it was the large amount of carrot or the excess of liquidly ingredients in the topping but the squares just were too moist and never got to square or cake consistancy. After the 35 minutes there was still unabsorbed liquid from the topping on top of the cake. And the cake itself was definitely not cooked. I left it in for another 15 minutes then increased the temperature to 375F for another 20 minutes. It was then I determined the squares were not going to get any less moist, and since the edges were starting to burn I took it out. Even when completely cooled the cake was more like a baked oatmeal, which texture I can only describe as "mushy". It did still taste quite good! But the texture just wan't desirable. I am not sure if it was because of too much moistness from the carrot, apple, yogurt to flour ratio or because of so much liquid in the topping. Sorry this didn't work for me. I believe this recipe was a great idea and has great potential with a little bit of reworking. Good luck in RSC #10!

 

[justcallmetoni]

I really wanted to love this one as it has so many wonderful component put together in a creative and healthy manner. I often seek out snack recipes which feature grains and vegetables. I prepared this as directed and made it in a 9 inch square pan guessing that was the right size given the volume of batter made and the number of servings. After baking it for 50 minutes, I removed it from the oven and allowed it to cool for 30 minutes. The result reminded me of baked oatmeal with shredded carrots, far too soggy to be considered a cake at all. The topping was simply delicious and we did pick it off the parts on the uneaten cake -- how do you not love crisp-tender apples laced with pecans and maple syrup. While we could eat a bit at the edges, the center of the cake was fairly unappealing despite the good flavor combinations. I think the amount of liquid in the top was simply too much and caused the cake to collapse and remain doughy. That said, this is fixable and would be well worth the effort. My suggestions would be to add an additional 2 tablespoons of flour to the batter and bake the cake for 15 minutes without the topping. I would then take the topping and prepare it without the yogurt to make it a wee bit drier. Add that to the cake and bake an additional 30 minutes. I'm sorry to not give this a better review as creating recipes is such a challenge. Thank you for posting.