# Carrot cake for Easter - why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [April 3, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344 "2021-04-03T19:51:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/21 "2021-04-04T19:24:35Z")
In Switzerland there is also carrot cake, but no cream cheese icing. This came up in my Facebook feed last week, so it’s also popular here. Powdered sugar is more common as a topper, sometimes vanilla icing. > **[Rhubarb and carrot Gugelhopf](https://fooby.ch/en/recipes/20959/rhubarb-and-carrot-gugelhopf?startAuto1=0)** > > Try Rhubarb and carrot Gugelhopf by FOOBY now. Or discover other delicious recipes from our category Baking sweet. I never had carrot cake for Easter as a child, it’s not something my parents make often. When I was little my mom took a cake decorating class, and would make decorated cakes for all holidays. So we each got a little egg shaped cake with our name on it for Easter. And we’d have rice pudding. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/22 "2021-04-04T19:43:42Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > And to further educate those of us who have never celebrated the holiday - is there a consensus as to whether or not brunch or dinner is the major getting together meal to celebrate the day? I doubt it. In my family, it was breakfast. After the kids retrieved all the Easter eggs from the backyard, my mother would slice them up, and serve them with biscuits and gravy. But in families who are regular churchgoers, brunch would probably be more practical. And in families who got together with more distant relatives for the holiday, dinner would be more convenient. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/23 "2021-04-04T20:26:47Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > And to further educate those of us who have never celebrated the holiday - is there a consensus as to whether or not brunch or dinner is the major getting together meal to celebrate the day? In our family it was traditionally an early dinner. Usually around 3pm. It has been very odd the last 2 years not have Easter Dinner. My sister has hosted it for decades now. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/24 "2021-04-04T20:36:36Z")
Mmmmmm carrot cakemmm cream cheese frostingmmmm ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/25 "2021-04-04T23:18:16Z")
And you can blame Clark Gable for the carrot thing with Bugs​:rabbit2:🐇😬 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/26 "2021-04-04T23:23:44Z")
[![](https://cdnmetv.metv.com/MJGSC-1610120505-3353-blog-bugsbunny_carrots_gable.jpg) ](https://cdnmetv.metv.com/MJGSC-1610120505-3353-blog-bugsbunny_carrots_gable.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/27 "2021-04-05T00:08:15Z")
There is something about carrot cake and the time of year, because my mother always baked one for our “Thank goodness Passover is over, let’s have some bread” meal. It’s possible that gardens were planted a little bit before, and since carrots come up pretty fast, late March to mid-April was when you’d want to get rid of any carrots you had left in the cellar, and grating them for something like bread or cake with lots of oil is a good way of disguising how old they are. I have my mother’s recipe, and in fact, it does have a ton of oil. I adapted it into a really good carrot muffin recipe. Less oil, grated carrots, instead of pulverized, some baking soda in addition to the baking powder, and a teaspoon of high gluten flour. I also add in some raisins. Make them all times of the year. She was a war baby (b. 1940), so if it was a war thing, she probably had it in her childhood. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/28 "2021-04-05T00:15:23Z")
For us, it’s an early dinner as well (anywhere from 2-4 p.m.) That said, our Sunday dinners are always early dinners, so it’s not really off the normal Sunday schedule. And, yes, the dinner is the big meal for our family and for most of the families I grew up with – at least as I remember. Even looking outside earlier today, I could see all the families gathering in the early afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyWest](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnnywest/32/7223_2.png) [@JohnnyWest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyWest)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/29 "2021-04-05T02:18:50Z")
I read this entire thread and now all I want is a piece of carrot cake. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/30 "2021-04-05T11:13:39Z")
In the UK, old tradition would have hot cross buns on Good Friday (but in the last few decades they’re available all year round) and [simnel cake](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simnel_cake) for Easter Sunday (or sometimes at an earlier point in Lent) - but that is now relatively rare, though you do see them in the shops. AFAIK there is no particular dessert item particularly associated with Easter. FWIW, Marks &Spencer’s TV adverts for their [Easter meal deal](https://www.marksandspencer.com/c/food-to-order/springdine-in#Menu) that I’ve seen have been pushing cheesecake this year. And also FWIW, the wartime generation who had to make do with cakes and desserts made with carrots or parsnips were only too glad to see the back of them. US-style carrot cakes are relatively recent over here. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/31 "2021-04-05T18:31:11Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Hot Cross Buns\* are the only dessert-y thing I’ve seen connected to Easter. Besides candy items like Peeps and chocolate bunnies, lamb cake with coconut fleece & jellybean eyes is pretty popular. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/32 "2021-04-05T18:52:00Z")
I concur, but the white creme cheese frosting also may be a small part of the reason. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/33 "2021-04-07T01:12:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > white creme cheese frosting Hmmm. We always had a dairy meal at the end of Passover, because so many people wanted to have pizza. That meant that we could have cream cheese frosting on the carrot cake. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344/34 "2021-04-07T12:20:38Z")
Also never seen or heard of the tradition, but if I saw a carrot cake grouped with the other Easter desserts I would automatically make the bunny connection. As a non Christian who went to her share of friends’ celebrations as a child, I’ve always associated Pavlova with Easter. I (unfortunately) did not grow up in Australia, so I have no idea why I encountered so much Easter Pavlova in SoCal. Anybody else have that experience? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrot-cake-for-easter-why/939344.md?page=1)