Grandma’s Carrot Yogurt Squares with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Grandma’s Carrot Yogurt Squares with Cream Cheese Frosting

These old-fashioned Carrot Yogurt Squares come from my grandmother’s handwritten recipe collection. Made with finely grated carrots, molasses, vanilla yogurt, and a touch of lemon zest, they’re topped with optional cream cheese frosting and cute little piped carrots for a classic Mom Loves Baking touch.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet Vegetarian

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 462kcal

Author Lise Sullivan Ode

Ingredients

For the Carrot Yogurt Squares

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 cup finely grated carrots
½ cup molasses
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg beaten
6 ounces sweetened vanilla yogurt
½ cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup water

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces full-fat cream cheese softened
¼ cup salted butter softened
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Orange and green gel food coloring

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. In a large bowl, stir together the carrots, molasses, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla yogurt until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Fold in the chopped nuts. Stir in water. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely in the pan. Level top, if needed. Spread with cream cheese frosting and decorate with small piped carrots, if desired. Cut into squares to serve. Store covered in the refrigerator.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat the butter until smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat just until smooth and combined. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, then beat on low until creamy. Avoid over beating, which can make cream cheese frosting loose.
Reserve about 2 tablespoons of frosting for the orange carrots and 1 tablespoon for the green tops. Tint with gel food coloring so you don’t thin the frosting. If the decorating portions seem too soft, stir in a little extra powdered sugar and refrigerate briefly until firm enough to pipe.
Spread the remaining frosting over the completely cooled cake. Mark out your squares, then pipe a small orange carrot on each using a piping bag with a small round tip, or a zip-top bag with a tiny corner snipped off. Add little green leaves with a smaller opening. Cut the 9-inch square cake into 3 rows of 3 squares. Keep squares topped with cream cheese frosting covered in the refrigerator.

Notes

Optional frosting: Serve the squares plain, with a dollop of whipped topping instead of the cream cheese frosting included here. Cool completely before garnishing with whipped topping.

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