Carrot Cake Has Actually Been Around Since The Middle Ages

Vanilla cake, chocolate cake, strawberry shortcake — all of these are cherished desserts that feature at birthday parties, anniversaries, and whatever other celebrations you see fit. And if you look closely (read: not closely at all), you'll see that none of these cakes have any hint of a vegetable in them. After all, veggies are way out of place in sweet desserts, right? Some would argue that this is true, but if so, how in tarnation did carrot cake become so prevalent as an iconic dessert in its own right?

Carrot cake might not be quite as popular as other cakes you could mention, but it still has a firm foothold among its peers. Celebrity chefs such as Ina Garten have tips for improving your carrot cake, and people have even begun swapping out carrots for another underrated vegetable — these tips and modifications both testaments to carrot cake's staying power in the dessert scene. This tradition of modification actually goes way back to carrot cake's inception, which happened much further back in time than you might think. While carrot cake as you know it really came about in the 1900s, its origin dates all the way back to the Middle Ages, with a Swiss recipe from the 10th century serving as possible evidence of an early version of carrot cake. So, if you thought there was something archaic about throwing carrots in a cake, you're not wrong — although perhaps the term "time-honored" is more apt for something with such lasting influence.

Nowadays, you have access to over a dozen tips to make the perfect carrot cake, but these tips would've been lost on the first carrot cake makers — which is to say, early and contemporary carrot cakes are drastically different from each other. Back in the days of carrot cake's humble beginnings, medieval cooks would combine carrots, spices, and a few other key ingredients to make what's essentially a steamed pudding — a far cry from our icing-clad dessert of today, but a recognizable ancestor. Since sugar was a luxury typically reserved for the upper echelons of society, the rest of the populace had to find more creative ways of sweetening their cuisine, hence the relatively sweet carrot's presence.

Carrot cake eventually evolved from a boiled or steamed pudding into the baked cake that you know today, and was enjoyed by common folk and royalty alike by the 19th century, supposedly being a favorite of Queen Victoria of England. However, its real resurgence into the dessert forefront came in the 20th century, when rationing during the Second World War meant that bakers had to once again get resourceful about how they were going to sweeten their baked goods – an echo to carrot cake's origin. As for the cake's cream cheese frosting, that's a modern addition, becoming popular in the U.S. in the mid-to-late 20th century. Over its long history, carrot cake has evolved quite a bit to become the wonderful dessert that we know and love today.