I love a little food history! Carrot cake origins date back to medieval times, when palace cooks made a boiled or steamed carrot “pudding,” cooked low and slow to enhance carrots' natural sweetness and enriched with spices, and held together with flour and eggs. Centuries later, George Washington supposedly served carrot cake at parties. Carrot cake grew in popularity during World War II, when England rationed sweeteners. Cream cheese icing became a popular carrot cake topping in the 1960s.