The Raisin Swap You Need For Stunning Carrot Cake Textures
Raisins are a source of tension in discussions of preferences. Some try ardently to avoid these dried grapes in any context, while others prefer it in certain dishes and not others. For example, the combination of the sweet and tangy flavor of raisins can serve as a nice complement to desserts, but in some cases, their texture can become chewy and hard.
Such is the case for carrot cake, where raisin is an acceptable addition, along with pecans and walnuts. Even so, a number of recipes entirely opt out of the dried fruit due to its hard, gummy bite that can occur even after being baked. Thankfully, if you want to keep fruit in the recipe sans the hard texture, dates are a great alternative.
Nowadays, dates are often reserved for charcuterie boards or sticky toffee pudding, but their tender texture and sweet flavor make them a great addition to any spiced cake.
Dates are a sweet and chewy addition to carrot cake
Dates are much softer and jammier than raisins, so the texture almost melts into the batter itself. Raisins, on the other hand, will always hold their shape and offer an unpleasant chew, depending on who you ask. If you're unfamiliar with the flavor profile of dates, they taste primarily like toffee with a hint of chocolate and cinnamon. So if you're not a fan of the strong, almost tart grape flavor of a raisin, the richer and sweeter notes of a date can be a great substitute. It'll taste like bits of caramel are dotted throughout the cake.
You can even soak the dates in warm water as you would for sticky toffee pudding to let the fruit flavor the entire cake. This will give the carrot cake a more pronounced butterscotch aroma while sweetening it. So if you want to bring different textures to your carrot cake without skimping out on flavor, dates are the way to go. Just be cautious about how much sugar you add to the batter; because dates are intensely sweet fruits.